- Lli;UAUi OF COXGRi-iS. ;;: 



7. I 
:fTXITED STATES OF Ml\a(^kM 



X 



KEEUKA 



AND OTHER POEMS 



BY 



COATES-KINNEY. 





PRIVATE EDITION. 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

1855. 



C^-^'M^'Z. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1854, by 

COATES-KINNEY, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District 
of Ohio. 



TO 

CHAKLES SHERMAN ABBOTT, 

OF CINCINNATI, 

MY BEST FHIEND, 

AS A HDMBLE TRIBUTE TO UNOSTENTATIOUS TALENT, GENEROUS SENTIMENT, 
AND INSTINOTIVE INTEGRITY, 

f p look 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 

THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE. 

Keeuka, 9 

Rain on the Roof, 87 

The Heroes of the Pen, 90 

Threnody for Flora, 94 

On ! Right On ! 96 

The Eden of Wishes, 98 

Caroline, 101 

Mabelle, 103 

Immortal Glory, , 105 

Emma Stuart, 108 

To My Wife, Ill 

The End of the Rainbow, 113 

Misgiving, 116 

Eyes, 119 

Minnehaha, 121 

A Song for the Crats, 124 

Legend of the Alabama, 127 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Wrestling, 132 

Eeminiscences, 134 

The Land Redeemed, 137 

Little Fanny, 141 

To Eliza Logan, 145 

The Spirit's Response, .^ 147 

Love, 150 

Scottish Song, 153 

To Otway Curry, 155 

On an Indian's Grave, 157 



KEEUKA: AN AMERICAN LEGEM). 



lEEUKA: 



AN AMERICAN LEGEND 



CANTO I. 
I. 

Were mine the language Sappho wont to sing, 
Whose tones were brooks of honey in the soul ; 
Could I the fall Hellenic thunders fling 
Down from sublime thought's empyrean pole, 
With Argiye auditors to hear them roll, 
Then mote I not in vain invoke the Muse, 
Whose mythic spells of inspiration stole 
Upon old bards, and filled their hearts, as dews 
Mysterious fill the buds, with glory's folded hues. 



10 KEEUKA. 



II 



But most the power I lack ; for Saxon speech, 
Tliough rough as ragged ocean, yet is grand 
As the great sound of billows on the beach. 
That winds in wrath scourge beUowing to land. 
Yet, though the Muse ne beck me with her hand 
Up where Parnassian rills of passion flow, 
"Where fancy's rainbows biilliantly are spanned 
Above thought's purest, most ethereal snow, 
ISTathless I meekly sing this museless lay below. 



III. 

I^ow welcome. Lake Keeuka ! hail to thee, 
Thou hill-hugged bosom of blue waters, hail ! 
Dark clouds of sorrow have flocked over me, 
And snowed upon this young haii-, since my sail, 
Coquetting with the sighful summer gale. 
Wont to dance daintily thy waves along ; 
Yet ne'er thy scenes, recalled in fancy, fail 
With pleasant memories my soul to throng ; 
And haply such may grace this legendary song. 



K E E U K A . 11 

IV. 

Thou crystal chamber of the rambling brooks ! — 
Where, after play, they prattle home to sleep — 
How oft I long for thy delightsome nooks, 
Whereround the bosky banks rise high and steep, 
And calm inclosed the basined waters keep ! 
There my canoe would float in summer time, 
And I dream dreams that in my bosom deep 
Are germs of thought now in an other clime ; 
And sometime one of these thus blossomed into rhyme : 

1. 

Twin of the summer sky 

Azum above. 
Soft as a maiden's eye 

Swimming in love. 
Is the Keeuka. 

2. 

Lato its bosom blue 

Early birds fly, 
Oft as they wake anew, 

Taking for sky 
Crj^stal Keeuka. 



12 



KEEUKA. 



3. 



Morning's red pinions fly 

Over its breast, 
And the night's bashful e 

Looks from the west 
Into Keeuka. 



4. 



Clumps of the olden woods 

Yet o'er its brink 
Stoop down their leafy hoods 

As if to think, 
By the Keeiika, 



Of the brave werowance 

Wont to roam here, 
Or the sqnaw maiden's glance 
Into the clear 
Breast of Keeuka. 



KEEUKA. 



e. 



13 



Then, when the moonlight shone 

Down on the blue, 
Here and there glode a lone 

Indian canoe 
O'er the Keeuka. 



Here sat the savage maid 

In the dark cove. 
Where the low ripples played, 

Watcliing her love 
On the Keeuka. 



8 



Tlien all was forest here, 
And, like the moose, 

Tameless and free of fear. 
Played the pappoose 
Kound the Keeuka. 



14 KEEUKA 



9. 



But the red forest clans 

Fled fatherland, 
Where now the palefaced man's 

Yillages stand 
By the Keeuka. 



10. 

Yet the blue waters look 
Upward as bright 

As ere the Indian took 
Westward his flight 
From the Keeuka. 



11. 

So, through all ages and 

Changes of time, 
Tnith shall a mirror stand. 

Calm and sublime. 
Like the Keeuka. 



K E E U K A . 15 



The clan that whilome dwelt upon this shore, 
And rowed the lake, and roamed the forest gi-and, 
On earth wield bow and tomahawk no more ; 
For they have all gone to the Spirit Land. 
In sooth, they were a fierce and faithful band, 
Kind unto friend and cruel unto foe ; 
With one, the peacepipe passed from hand to hand, 
With other meeting, fatal blood must flow : 
They loved, they hated, and they knew no morals moe. 



YI. 

Poor, simple savages ! they ne'er had learned 
Mock virtue's many words and ways of guile ; 
K sense of wrong within their bosom burned. 
It shone outside not in a glozing smile, 
But lit the eye in nature's noble style ; 
Nor brooked they insult's buffet on the cheek. 
To tm-n the other Christianly the while ; 
But whoso outrage dared to do or speak. 
Prepared for peril : arm ! and on him vengeance wreak 



16 KEEUKA. 

VII. 

Thus they dispensed with that infernal scheme 
Of wordy mysteries in musty tomes, 
Which mimics justice with the little gleam 
Of right and reason in the brain of momes 
That practice twaddle in forensic domes, 
Where Impudence gulps nonsense to the lees. 
And thence in gaseous fermentation foams : 
ISTe need of such a lore of Hes had these 
Who dwelt here by the troutbrooks underneath the trees. 



YIII. 

!N'or needed that stupendous fiction they. 
Whereby an image stamped upon an ore, 
Becomes a god, to which men homage pay 
Devoutly, and which ardently adore ; 
For game thi-ough wood, and in the water store 
Of fish, were equal to their vital want ; 
(They wanted life, and wanted little more ;) 
Among them nor did gilded Greatness flaunt. 
Nor pining Poverty their happy homeplace haunt. 



KEEUKA 



IX. 



17 



In very deed, their language did ignore 
Even the words of wealth ; for Commerce yet 
Here on the water and along the shore 
Her many-mottoed seal had never set, 
With cant of loss and profit, tare and tret : 
Ne hunks was hero in the savage life, 
ISfor smockfaced Foppery mote honor get ; 
But eloquence, and prowess in the strife 
With tomahawk and warclub, bow and battleknife. 



X. 

So they, ere mother IN'ature had grown old, 
Her dearest children, at her wholesome breast 
Drank life, and felt her fond arms round them fold, 
And her sweet bosom to then- hearts be pressed ; 
Kor nursing Ai't had ever them caressed, 
Or dandled yet on her adoptive knee. 
Like as her fosterchildren, cursed and blessed 
With knowledge, who had come across the sea 
To damn the fiiture of the ignorantly free. 



Ig KEEUKA. 

XI. 

Yet what the nation of the copper clan 
That peopled here the lakeside long ago, 
Or how afar theii* russet race began, 
Or whence their dusky blood mote have its flow, 
In good sooth, me it matters not to know ; 
Enough, that truer Mingoes^ never drew 
An arrow to the head, or twanged a bow, 
Or battleax in warfare featly tlu-ew. 
Than the Keeukas, dwellers by these waters blue. 



xn. 

And from the mighty Mohawk sagamore,'' 
Whene'er, as now, his fleety runners ran 
Thi-ough the Five Nations, making every shore 
Of all these linked lakes clamor with the ban 
Of battle, yelliug it from clan to clan — 
Hise! Mingoes, rise! your Agresquee" invoke, 
And follow where the Mohawk leads the van! — 
As the first warwhoop into echoes broke, 
The yare Keeukas rallied at their council oak. 



KEEUKA. 19 



XIII. 



It was a grandly overtopping tree, 
That fuU five hundred years had seen, or moe, 
Since in its lithesome youth it danced the glee 
Which piping winds wont through its branches blow ; 
But now it bowed its head sublimely slow. 
Still youthftd, though majestically old ; 
For it alate had shaken off the snow. 
Old age's token, and anew did hold 
Its green magnificence up in the morning's gold. 



XIY. 

Upon the stilly smoothness of the lake 
The glaring gloiy of the rising sun 
Lay molten ; meanwhile musically brake 
The woodbirds into matins, one with one 
Altern or choral, yet discordant none. 
Awakened from the sweet sleep they had slept, 
As if in sorrow that their dreams were done, 
The young leaves tearfully the dewdrops wept, 
'And to the breeze that roused them, low complaining kept. 



20 K E E U K A 



XY. 

Here, after clamor, were the lakers met 
At the fresh pi-ime in silence. All had died 
The echoes ; and with dewy weeping wet. 
The leaves, whose plaints the brisk brooks did deride. 
Brightening gan whisper, as they now espied 
The gathered council. In the center rose 
The chief, Moneeka : he from side to side 
Prelusive eyeglance of mute meaning throws. 
And then in lava speech his soul volcanic flows. 



XYI. 

"Our kinsmen cry to us from out their blood ! 
Their ghosts went scalpless to the Spuit Land ! 
How many seasons more shall fall and bud. 
Ere we avenge them with the bloody hand ? 
The Mohawk leads the Nations Triple-Clanned ;* 
Him follow to the death in glory's trail ! 
Ere three more glooms have wrapped, or mornings fanned 
The forest, smite the vile Catawbas pale ! 
For each om' kindred slain, make ten their widows wail ! 



KEEUKA. 21 



XYII. 



Last midnight I stood yonder on the cliff, 
While the Great Spirit's many starry eyes 
Were gazing on me, and with every whiff 
Of winds among the pinetops, there did rise 
The shriek of some sonl unavenged. Disguise 
Yom- faces with the paint ! Anoint your hak ! 
Fill np yom- quivers ! Make the woods and sides 
King with your warsong ! Go ye and prepare 
The feast of blood for brothers shrieking in the ah* !" 



XYIII. 

So ended he : forthwith five hundred throats 
Him hoarsely grunted guttural applause f 
Then, clamoring in wi^ath's barbarian notes, 
Demanded lead them whereso vengeance was. 
In crouching ambush or in battle's jaws. 
Again came silence, deep as slumbers bring 
To night's mid darkness, but of briefer pause ; 
For fiercely now the braves began to sing. 
And full-fledged fmy rose on music's wildest wing. 



22 KEEUKA. 



1. 



By the widowB bewailing 
The horrible slaughters, 

By the bones of our brothers 
Picked bare by the ravens, 
By the tears unavailing 
Of fatherless daughters 
And sorrowing mothers, 
Kevenge on the cravens ! 
Revenge ! revenge ! 



2. 

Ere the grapes begin bunching 
By brook and by fountain. 

Ere the broods of young throstles 
Burst into sweet laughter. 
The wolves shall be munching 
Our foes on the mountain. 
And bloody scalptossels 
Shall swing from the rafter ! 
Revenge ! revenge ! 



KEEUKA. 23 



3. 



Now, ye souls of our brothers, 
Unlaid and in trouble. 

Cease shrieking and sighing; 
For ere in his blanket 
The Great Spirit smothers 
This moon, there shall bubble 
Hot blood from hearts dying, 
And ye shall have drank it ! 
Revenge! revenge! 



XIX. 

Now died the hideously mournful strain — 
The mad monotonous refrain did rave 
Itself to death, and into stillness wane ; 
But the echoes yet its elfin spirit save. 
And bear it oyer blue Keeuka's wave ; 
Toss it from steep to steep along the shore. 
And beat it crying through each rocky cave. 
Straightway the council broke, and savage tore 
The vail of heaven with their whooped outrageous roar. 



24 KEEUKA. 



XX. 



And next they scattered each a several way ; 
Some to their wigwams nigh, and some to boat, 
Where, tethered in the ripples' tiny sway, 
The prim prows on the pebbly margin smote, 
As though along the blue to be afloat 
They felt a hve impatience. Then the dip 
Of paddles beat time all the while each throat 
Uttered a low, wild chant, unstopped by lip,^ 



And so the trim canoes did o'er the waters trip. 



XXI. 

The voices, with the distance, tapered down 
To silence ; and thence till the setting sun 
The plumy thrapple of the mockbhd brown, 
Swoln full of rich, round warble, glibly spun 
Its tangled string of carols, never done : 
The tunable lovetwitter round the nests. 
The susurration of the bees, the run 
Of quick brooks, blent their sweet sounds, till the west's 
Vanguard of hosting stars displayed then' brilliant crests. 



KEEUKA. 25 



XXII. 



What time the twilight thickened into gloom, 
A dome of flame shot up its flashing spu'e 
Beside the lake, as though for Day a tomb 
Were built there — 'dead Day's monument of fire. 
Keeuka's face glowed sudden red with ire. 
Uncurtained thus of darkness in her sleep ; 
And all at once one whooping hubbub dire, 
Like roaiing ocean, swept the forest deep, 
Then sunk in echoing ebb, a tide of noises neap. 



XXIII. 

The light upon the beach was for a token ; 
The startling whoops, responses to the sign ; 
And now, amid a silentness unbroken. 
Into the circle of that signaled shine. 
From out the dark of thickets' branchy twine. 
There glided taU forms, flocking all the shore ; 
While o'er the water, flame-wrought into wine. 
The same canoes that had at morn tofore. 
And toward that raddy glare was pointed every prore. 



26 KEEUKA. 

XXIY. 

Anon each slender bark its beak had strook, 
And each swart rower leaped upon the strand ; 
Portent of battle scowled in every look, 
And clutched the tomahawk in every hand. 
Ah ! then to see the banded cohort stand 
In sullen circle round that reaching blaze, 
It was the dread sublime, the gloomy grand : 
Their frightful features hold a dismal gaze. 
And not among them one one sign of life betrays. 



XX Y. 

For brief thus motionless and mute stood they ; 
Then, as from impulse of one common thought, 
Burst into brutal war's infernal bray, 
To horrid dissonance of fiuy wrought : 
With hungry foretaste of revenge distraught. 
In dance they raged, in frantic song they ranted ; 
The onslaught shammed, the mimic battle fought. 
And gorged the feast, which late with life had panted ; 
Nor ceased until the moon her downward journey slanted. 



KEEUKA.. 27 



XXYI 



The fire had dwindled, and the moon gone down ; 
The stars were waiting for the king of day, 
To bow their fealty to his golden crown, 
And then from his dread presence shrink away ,* 
Deep in the dreaming lake's clear bosom lay 
A vision of the heavens : save the trill 
Of night's lone troubadom* upon the spray, 
Poet of birds, the mournful whippowil. 
Where late loud orgies roared, now all was widely still. 



CANTO II. 

I. 

Forth victor Dawu his flamy banner flung 
Over the east horizon's battlement ; 
Yet Night's forlorn hope, Lucifer, yclung. 
Last of her bright host, to the sky's blue tent 
TlU round him it was all on fire ; upsent 
The bkds their sweet applauses ; blushed the water 
Under the ardent gaze of Orient: 
Again were met the warriors by the water, 
And eke their women mom-nful, mother, wife, and daughter. 



KEEUKA. 29 



II. 



Oh "War ! iconoclast of woman's love ! 
Thou breaker of the idols of her heart ! 
Thou pomp of murder, that dost flout above 
All penalty ! that sitst enthroned apart 
From vulgar crunes, and crowned with glory art! 
While man may so heroically die 
That his great name on tune's historic chart 
ShaU loom through ages, woman's is the sigh — 
The tear, which fame's cold breath may freeze, but can not diy . 



III. 

Again were met the warriors by the water ; 
And, sooth, they showed romantic to the view ; 
Wood-born BeUona, Nature's wanton daughter. 
Contrasted gayly with the dark green hue 
Of her plain mother's garb, begemmed with dew 
Ejrtles of red from zone to middle thigh, 
Their plumes of scarlet, moccasins of blue. 
Their skins tattooed with stripes of every dye. 
Combined as fine a scene as ever flared to eye. 



30 KEEUKA. 



IV. 



Upon their shoulders painted quivers hung, 
Full of the arrowy death ; in each right hand 
The nervy bow, to half-strained tension strung ; 
And in each bead-embroidered kiiileband 
The tomahawk and scalpknife : there they stand 
In conflux gloomy, like a thundercloud 
Swoln by the winds and with a rainbow spanned — • 
Kelentless in revenge, of prowess proud. 
And yet with love's fond passion genially endowed. 



Y. 



And though no tears welled up to quench the flame 
Of war's wild ardor blazing in their eyes, 
The hour of parting to their bosoms came 
With a quick agony ; the tender ties 
Of home afiections, braided, in the skies. 
Of man's high nature, wrought upon the strings 
Of their strong hearts — Oh ! what if this emprise 
Should leave their bodies cold and breathless things 
In far lands, clawed by wolves and flapped by ravens' wings!^ 



KEEUKA. 31 



1. 



The flowers may spring up in the trails 
That wind to where the roebucks dwell — 

The corn may tossel in the vales 

Ere we come home : farewell ! farewell ! 

2. 

Young moon may wax, and old moon wane, 
And fall may brown, and spring may bud, 

Nor we yet come ; we may be slain, 
Each sleeping on his mat of blood I 

3. 

But if we never come again . 

To greet home's kisses, glad and warm. 
Be sure that more than Mingo men 

Were struck in battle's thunderstorm ! 



Farewell ! farewell ! along the shore 
Our boats are beating on the shoals : 

Farewell ! — if we come back no more. 
Then, meet us in the Land of Souls ! 



32 K E E U K A . 



YI 



So sung the sachem ; all the braves respond 
To the sad chant with sorrowful conclaim ; 
Then of his loved ones each one takes a fond, 
Perchance a last embrace. But, hark ! a name 
Moneeka utters in a tone of blame : 
Lelu ! Lelu ! she of the spirit bland, 
Imai^e of her, and only not the same 
That death had taken to the Spirit Land — 
IBs fair child, why not she one of that tearful band' 



YII. 

List ! like a choir of cuckoos comes a flow 
Of flutestops in the gushes of the breeze ; 
A fitful strain, now louder, now more low, 
Now sweetly nuiftled in the thick of trees. 
The timid squaws, transported, fall to knees 
In adoration, while from brave to brave 
Fly ravished whispers in the tone of bees ; 
When, lo I from out the mouth of Spirit Cave 
There darts a light canoe, and glides along the wave. 



KEEUKA 



VIII 



It was Lelu's I they knew it by the beak — 
A silver arrow, flasliing o'er the blue 
As Venus o'er the east when morn doth wreak 
Its ardor on the meek, pale sky. It flew 
The waters witchingly, and quickly drew 
Whom into sight it wafted ; lo, the Sprite 
Of Spirit Cave ! and with him, lo, Lelu ! 
She plied the plashing paddle left and right, 
While music's chain linked he with flying fingers light. 



IX. 

Eftsoons the tiny prow was laid aland ; 
Tho music stopped ; and bounded up the bank 
Fawnlike Lelu. Tlie pretty boldness bland 
Of innocence, the modest meekness frank 
Of maidenhood, did beautifully prank 
Her large brown eyes ; flowed down her long black hair, 
Whereunder her round bosoms rose and sank 
Like billows ; nature's delicacy bare 
Adorned her : ! she was bewilderingly fair. 



;34. KEEUKA. 



Though in amazement, every warrior's heart 
Beat big responses to her tripping feet, 
Proud of her loveliness. Where stood apart 
The wondering sachem, thither soon her fleet, 
Light footsteps bore her. Him the sudden gi-eet 
Of ardent lips roused from astonishment — 
The thi-ill of filial kisses, fondly sweet : 
"Sire, the Great Spii-it my Okkee^hath sent 
To talk to you of peace ere battle's bow be bent." 



XI. 



She waved her hand, and up the beach came he 
Who had so oft mysterious charmed the shore 
With music's witchery — Lelu's Okkee : 
Majestical ! his brow such beauty wore 
As a white cloud by sundown tinted o'er ; 
His hair bright brown, his eyes were lakelike blue. 
And looked as though they held all heretofore 
And all hereafter in their raptured view. 
And all high knowledge and all holy passion knew. 



KEEUKA. 35 



XII 



He paused beside the old oak, and a space 
His soul seemed brooding live thoughts beaked with fire, 
Hatching them into words. Upon his face 
There glowed the light of truth's divine desire, 
Wherein his brows did heavenward aspire. 
Like wings of eagle in the glow of morn. 
Anon his spirit struck the full-toned lyre 
Of Mohawk speech, and eloquence was born, 
Swaying those hearts as winds of summer sway the corn. 



XIII. 

"If the Great Spirit is Allfather, then, 
Keeukas ! to the whole world ye are kin — 
All brothers of the brotherhood of men. 
Of the same blood your hands would dabble in. 
Why pant ye for the battle to begin ? 
The wolf, the panther Live by act of prey ; 
But ye — ^but what do ye by cai'nage win ? 
Revenge ! What ! brother for slain brother slay i 
Such vengeance were the seed of slaughter aye and aye. 



36 K E E U K A . 



XIV 



Murder is mother unto murder ; so, 
Thou sachem ! every scalp thy waniors take, 
Gets them at least one other deathful foe, 
Whose kindred breast shall feverously ache 
With such mad thirst as naught but blood can slake : 
Each heart struck cold, makes hot a hostile hand ! 
Hence, wrath's fierce billaws shall still ever break 
Successive on the shore of Spirit Land, 
While braves against braves be for vengeful warfare clanned. 



XY. 

Bury the red ax, then ! go not to battle ! 
No rainbow follows fight's wild hurricane ; 
But all love's bloom is blasted where the rattle 
Of aiTOwy hail melts to the bloody rain : 
The ties between the slayer and the slain, 
In being severed, rend all other strings 
Of the live heart's afiection-tangled skein. 
Go not to battle ! but who battle brings 
Upon your home, strike ! Justice then his deathsong sings." 



KEEUKA. 37 



XYI 



Such godlike speech from whom they deemed divine, 
Wrought quick conversion in the heroes' breasts — 
Made bright bliss in the women's tearful eyne ; 
For now war's fmies drop their snaky crests, 
And tamely crawl back to their secret nests. 
"New truths from Spirit Land !" Moneeka cried ; 
"Let us obey their beautiful behests !" 
By throwing down their arms, the braves replied ; 
And joy thrilled bosoms that had just with soitow sighed. 



XYII. 

"In sweet peace, then, each to his wigwam g 
In true love, then, and lighten woman's toil ; 
Fix him a home where nature's beauties grow, 
And, better far than brave in battle's broil. 
Be brave in labor, victor of the soil!" 
While tongue thus utters, forth from his blue ee 
Persuasion's fascinating folds uncoil. 
They each obey; and soon at that old tree 
Are left none save Lelu and her divine Okkee. 



38 KEEUKA. 

XYIII. 

"No:w, while Keeuka holds the blushing face 
Of young Morn in her bosom, and the note 
Of lovelorn turtle fills the woody place, 
Over the waters in our cedar n boat. 
O'er the blue waters, darling, let us float; 
And, as the ripple from the cui-ved keel slips 
With silver tinkle, all the day devote 
To pleasant converse, till soft twilight clips 
The sunbeams, leaving in the stars theii- golden tips." 



XIX. 

So sweetly had addressed he sweet Lelu, 
In language learned from Anglic mother's lips; 
For well the pretty squaw its meaning knew, 
And from his words took love as wild bee sips 
From strange blooms honey ; — then, the black eclip 
Of thick hair from her forehead pushed away. 
Passion's quick wings touched there then* trembling tips 
O that such blisses might but bide for aye ! 
Worth thousand common ages one such blissful day. 



ps.> 



KEEUKA. 



XX. 



Ne'er harpist harping with his golden harp 
The Orphic miracles of raging song, 
Could half sing love — ^love's rapture keen and sharp, 
That thrills through heart and each hot vein along, 
A pleasure-pain, unspeakable and strong ! 
Ye, in whose bosoms this unresting dove 
With soft, white plumes, yet fierce beak, once hath clong, 
Ye know how winged words far it soars above. 
And how in place like this, love must be doubly love. 



XXI. 

The woods' wide amphitheater of green ; 
The sky's high overcanopy of blue ; 
The lake, arena for the coming scene 
Of love's boat floating with its dual crew ; 
The birds, which, as they sung, and singing flew, 
And flying flashed the dewdrops, one might deem 
Nature's winged halleluiahs ; airs that blew 
Through leafy lips aroma : all did seem 
The kingdom come of passion's paradisean dream. 



40 KEEUKA, 



XXII. 



Just where the green made border to the blue, 
A while they stood in silent muse, as though, 
Of all the glories that around them grew, 
That arched above, that liquid lay below. 
Into their soul they felt the essence flow ; 
Into their soul ; they now were two souls one. 
Their former selves love had commingled so : 
The phases of life opposite were done — 
As sun and moon's conjunction leaves naught but the sun. 



XXIII. 

"Okkee ! — Eight true, thou art Okkee, and this 
Is the soul's home. For, did I understand. 
Thou said that love is spirit ; then, I wis 
Enough love here to make it Spirit Land. 
It must be so ; for fancy never planned 
For hope a joy more blissful in that realm — 
Is it not an a dream ? Give me thy hand : 
'Tis real ! — ^Loose the prow now from the elm ; 
Sit thou and talk to me, Lelu will hold the helm." 



KEEUKA. 41 



XXIY. 



The twain embarked, the proa swung from shore ; 
Few strokes of dextrous paddle sent it clear. 
To waft away where breeze soever bore, 
Through the bright concave of an azure sphere^ — 
Blue sky above, blue sky beneath the mere. 
So sphered atween the two skies glode the bark 
Alone and still, as though a deluge here 
Had drowned of passion every vital spark 
Save only love, and this were saved love's tiny ark. 



XXY. 

Lelu first that enraptured silence broke. 
"Thou knowst thou promised twice twelve moons ago, 
That when I learned the language which thou spoke, 
I should the story of thy past time know : 
As beautifully as the blossoms blow, 
Thy words have oped their meanings in my mind, 
Till well I comprehend them now, I trow ; 
So, my Okkee ! thy thread of life unwind. 
And braid it up with strands of golden talk entwined." 



CANTO III. 



I 



"My soul's first felt stir was by such a lake ; 
Memory dawned on such a scene of blue ; 
And thence have waters in my spirit's make 
Grown passions, still or stormy, ever new : 
The brook, young love, meandrily untrue ; 
The lake, sweet dream of poetiy's devotion ; 
The river, lust of fame, which greater grew 
Forever in its nearer seaward motion : 
Wild muse of God's infinity, the awful ocean. 



KEEUKA. 48 



II. 



O ! I have always loved the living waters ; 
While yet a very child, I sought the brooks, 
And wooed them as Romance's pretty daughters, 
And tiysted with them in sequestered nooks, 
And gloated on them with most passioned looks. 
And wived them to my soul, and hugged them there: 
The crystal pools were Fancy's open books. 
Where ripply fingers of the poet Air 
Wrote roundelays that still my heart doth fondly bear. 



Ill 



In noisy flocks while other children played. 
Nurse Nature spread her lap and tended me, 
And so before me her delightments laid 
That I was charmed to sit upon her knee. 
And feel my heart with her great heart agree : 
Tliere was a spirit by the lake and river. 
Which I have since found gi-ander by the sea. 
That made my heartchords with a transport quiver. 
And whispered, Be a dreamer, not a worldly liver. 



44 KEEUKA. 



IV 



That whisper to my life became a fate ; 
And though I knew naught of its meaning then. 
It soon was taught me by their scorn and hate, 
Who slave, eat, sleep — swarm, sweat, and sleep again, 
Moil, cheat, hoard, stmt through threescore years and ten ; 
Who rise the scum atop the heated world. 
And hide pure ore, themselves the dross of men : 
The lips of such, contemptuous pity curled, 
And at the worthless boy their shafts of mock were hurled. 



V. 



And even parents chid me for a drone — 
As though the honey for life's hive were wi'ought 
By buzzers only, none by musers lone ! 
As though it better were to gain a groat 
Than win from nature an eternal thought ! 
As though bright truths that in the still soul spring 
Like twilight stars in heaven, were of naught 
Because they have not the metallic ring ! 
As though man's intellect were not his Godward wing ! 



KEEUKA. 45 



VI 



They said that I would never come to thrift, 
And that upon the sea of fortune soon, 
Sailless and helmless, I would be adrift, 
Except I left ygazing on the moon, 
And idly dreaming underneath the noon ; 
That who would clamber honor's toilsome hight, 
His feet must well be shod with silver shoon, 
And eye, like eagle's in the sunward flight. 
Kept keen and steady on the yellow-golden light. 



YII. 

And so I hated such a world of gold, 
And turned me from its dazzle to the hue 
More mild of summer woods, of skies unrolled 
Above them gi*andly, and of waters blue. 
I envied every bird that round me flew, 
Its unreproved delight, and longed for wings, 
To seek some paradise man never knew. 
Where I might drink aU pleasures at theii* springs — 
Where thoughts were honeybees without the poison stings. 



46 K E E U K A . 



YIII. 



I mused on God's world, and I loved to live ; 
I mused on man's, and I desired to die : 
Power, beauty, majesty, all that could give 
The soul suggestion of its nature high. 
Were lavished here to prompt it to the sky ; 
And yet immortal beings wallowed, ate, 
And fattened, like the creatures of the sty — 
Ay, scouted him with grunts of brutish hate. 
Who dared eschew their slough, and seek a nobler fate. 



IX. 

Such was my early estimate of men ; 
And black misanthropy imbued my heart : 
And yet I sighed for whom to love. The wren, 
The robin, whose quick wiugs would round me dart 
Among the thick green leaves, were each a part 
Of passion's duad ; I, I was a self! 
With no sweet Hps to kiss away the smart 
That poverty endures of vulgar pelf; 
Kg mate with me to delve our nature's richest delf. 



KEEUKA. 47 



X. 



I went to school, but not to pore on books ; 
I knew to read, nor sought such knowledge more : 
I went, and studied love in woman's looks. 
And learned by heart that beautifulest lore, 
And conned the pleasant lesson o'er and o'er. 
Life now displayed a fuller, fairer phase 
Than ever it had shown to me before ; 
For lonesome melancholy's gloomy haze 
Is quick dispelled in human sympathy's bright rays. 



XI. 

The schooldame was a fair and gentle creature, 
Whose soul seemed chastened by some sacred wo. 
Which had stamped angel on her every feature, 
And made her accents musically low. 
As when soft winds through lyre Eolian blow ; 
And left within her sad and holy eyes 
The passion tears just ready forth to flow ; 
And given to her such a spirit guise 
As had small need of change to fit it for the skies. 



48 KEEUKA. 

XII. 

She gently forth the mind's first twinkles brought 
As gloamin brings the stars — a mother mild 
(The better mother, mother of its thought) 
To the persuadable and plastic child. 
In love's sweet suasion when she faintly smiled, 
She took the fond heart further toward the land 
Where life is love — where is no anger wild — 
Than aH devices terror ever planned 
To scare man heavenward by keeping heMre fanned. 



XIII. 

She was not old ; and yet there was a girl 
Just in the first teen — woman's rosebud year — 
That called her mother — But swift memories whirl 
Within my brain — ^forgive me if the tear 
Will start, Lelu — this touches me so near ! 
That little maid who caUed the schooldame mother, 
At once filled all my soul as sunrise here 
Fills all yon hollow blue : it was that other. 
That winged afiection, past the chrysalid of brother. 



KEEUKA. 49 



XIY 



And though she called me brother, yet I knew 
It was a name with which she sought to hide 
Love more than sisterly, that so did hue 
Her being with its rainbows every side, 
It never could be hidden or denied : 
The passion panted crimson to her cheek. 
Like summer sundown when the day has died, 
And spoke so plainly in her cadence meek 
That there was nothing left for formal words to speak. 



XV 



And so no formal, jarring words were spoken, 
To mar the music of our spirit spheres ; 
No promises in hope, that might be broken 
In the reality of after years. 
But there were thrills that cut like pain, and tears 
That had no motive, and sad-seeming sighs 
That were not sorrowful, and doubts and fears 
Kerneled with secret blisses, and soft eyes 
That held the deep infinity of bluest skies. 



50 KEEUKA. 



XYI 



Tho mother saw our burnini:: lives tlms leapiug 
Like two quick llauies together, aiul she kuew 
That hope of love's beatitude was steeping 
()ur whole existence witli its purple hue ; 
Yet not displeased was she : the glistening dow 
Of holy tenderness her blue eyes brimmed, 
As looked she on us, and believed me true, 
And in her fond anticipation linnietl 
The picture of our oneness ere her dirge wore hymnal. 



XVII. 

But never she such consiunnuition saw : 
The shaft of sorrow, which had stuck so long- 
Deep in her heart. Death gently forth did draw, 
And make lior hap}>y ; and he did not wrong. 
But there were those to whom the guilt hath clong 
Of her sad lot, and sluill forever cling ; 
Men e'en respectable among the throng — 
Men i Ilellkites ! such as from Abaddon bring, 
And over earth the seeds of rank damnation rtins:. 



KEEUKA 



XVIII. 



51 



These hucksters of hell fiuy, who have dens 
In every lumnt, and bane the course of life 
From Splendor's palaces to S(pialor's pens — • 
Unparadise fair homes with fiendish strife, 
And stab at heaven with assassin's knife — 
These crossed the high career of that brave youth 
Whom she had wed, and from the bliss of wife 
Dejected her to worse than widow's nith : 
ilii was a brute sot, spoded of manhood's pride and truth. 



XIX. 

He drank himself a devil, and then died ; 
And at his wife and child men pointed shame — 
Shame to be mourners of state homicide ! 
Sliame to be victims of black crimes that claim 
The sanction of the law, and have no blame ! 
Great God ! the blood runs like a sluice of lire 
Within me, as I contemplate the frame 
Of civilization, and I wish a lyre 
Of thunder power, to batter it, base, dome, and spire! 



52 KEEUKA. 



XX 



But she was dead ! the drunkard's widow now 
Lay there in Heaven's refuge, past all scorn, 
The euthanasy's beauty on her brow, 
As though she dreamed of resurrection morn, 
And glimpsed the glory of the second-born. — 
Oh ! blisses must be infinite on high, 
To number out the tears of that forlorn. 
Motherless gii'l, and compensate each sigh : 
No words could paint her wo ; mine may not, dare not try 



XXI. 

The sexton smoothed the sod above the dead, 
And gently then they bore the child away, 
The only mourner, though hot tears were shed 
Even by stem-browed men that funeral day. 
They brought the sad one in our home to stay ; 
And when the sob had settled to the sigh, 
And calm submission on her forehead lay. 
With cheek to cheek, beneath the evening sky. 
Oft would we sit, and muse of angels, she and I. 



KEEUKA. 53 



XXII 



And at such times the stars had earnest looks 
Of sympathy, as though each held a tear ; 
And in the silvery babble of the brooks 
Almost a human sobbing we could hear ; 
Such soft wind-whispers as a spirit's fear 
Of too much revelation seemed to quell, 
Low sibilated solace to the ear 
Of sorrow ; and the bulbul in the deU, 
With melody's nepenthe crowned the holy spell. 



XXIII. 

So passed we all the lovely summer eves, 
Our souls commingling like two waterways 
Within some pleasant valley full of leaves : 
And when the autumn scarlet gan to blaze 
Among the treetops, and the mild, warm days, 
Like watching women, softly glided round 
His dying bed, as though they strove to raise 
The good old Year up from his dreamy swound. 
New brightness her blue ee, her cheek new bhishes foun 



54 K E E U K A . 



XXIY 



Then through the glory of that mellow weather, 
We traced the streams, we stroamed adown the glyn, 
And clomb atop the piny hills together ; 
Nor wist we anght of danger we were in, 
For neither one was ware of any sin ; 
We leaned our foreheads o'er the selfsame book. 
Along which some immortal mind had been, 
And, mingling with om* mingled spirits, took 
Its power in, as this lake bosoms yonder brook. 



XXY. 

The trees put on their ghostly robes of snow 
At length, and we — But how that winter time 
We passed, beside the hearthstone's cheery glow, 
Edened in young love's always-summer clime — 
And how, too, in the next year's bloomy prime. 
We told with flowers what ne we dared with tongue- 
Then summer through, and all the fall sublime. 
How clung our hearts, and close and closer clung — 
'angs to remember : be it to oblivion flung ! 



KEEUKA. 55 



XXYI. 



Two years had passed, and we were not the same, 
Though same in age : she was a woman now, 
I yet a boy. Still with a lip of flame 
She breathed me burning words, and sealed her vow 
Of trath on blushing cheek and beating brow. 
But by and by an other came to woo 
That loveliness to which my heart did bow 
As does the Hindoo unto his Gooroo ; 
And he was all a stranger, none knew whence or who. 



XXYII. 

But it was said that some illustrious hero 
Of bygone ages mythically dim, 
(Some Cesar great — or haply e'en some Nero !) 
By deeds immortal had ennobled him. 
And him enriched with cofiers full to brim. 
Besides nobility, he had a mien 
Of winningness, with person tall and trim, 
And tongue possessed of power almost to wean 
Angels from heaven unto hell's eternal threne. 



56 KEEUKA. 



XXYIII. 

Then Jessie grew so sisterly to me — 
So friendly-calm to me so passion-tossed ! — 
And blushed so bashful to the stranger's ee, 
I knew in heart love's paradise was lost : 
Between me and hope's life-tree cherubs crossed 
Their flaming swords ; the night of cold despair 
Came down with darkness and with deadly frost 
Upon my spirit's blowth, and withered there 
All that was beautiful, all that was flushly fair. 



XXIX. 

I saw them wedded — ay, stood nigh the altar, 
And froze my tears down 'neath an icy pride, 
While iQ a voice that never seemed to falter, 
She spoke herself away, an other's bride. 
I wished her joy then, and with haughty stride — 
So haughty it betrayed my humbled heart — 
I hurried home, and there, alone, untied 
My heartstrings loose to anguish. With a start 
I rose and manned myself : forthwith I must depart. 



KEEUKA. 57 



XXX 



With tears that bluiTed and blinded, and with words 
Of long farewell, I parted from the spot 
Where land, lake, sky, where woods, and brooks, and birds. 
All minded me what better were forgot. 
1 can not think it is a mom'nful lot. 
To leave the scene where love has died, for aye, 
To quit the home where sympathy is not, 
Where all bids go, and naught invites to stay : 
It is as if relief, to wander thence away. 



CANTO IV. 
I. 

"Away ! away ! My swarming thoughts had stings 
That pricked me madly onward, and my feet, 
To give them fleetness, took on dead Love's wings : 
Away ! away ! with heart of bursting beat — 
Away ! away ! no matter what to meet. 
Not till the stars of nightfall had ah-eady 
Flocked to their places, and their magic sweet 
Shed on me, did my brain's wild torrent eddy 
To consciousness, and flow in reason's cun-ent steady. 



KEEUKA. 59 



II 



I stai-tlecl at the newness of the scenes ; 
Thought of my plight struck like a stab of steel ; 
A youth just past the midway of my teens, 
Unschooled in life, unbacked by golden weal — 
Nor tact nor taste to tug at fortune's wheel, 
Nor robe of ancestiy my name to don, 
And naught on earth save heart to virtue leal ! 
But such concern was not for me to con : 
What was the futm-e worth ?— I sternly strided on. 



Ill 



All through that night the farmhouse bandogs bayed me. 
And ghosts that stories told to childhood raised, 
Stole out from gloomy corners, and waylaid me ; 
But stiU I took one star, and on it gazed. 
And followed it, till kindling morning blazed 
On glary domes and flashing steeples high. 
And art's magnificence my dim eyes dazed : 
I found myself a mighty city nigh, 
Whose matin hymn to Mammon gan to din the sky. 



(JO KEEUKA 



IV 



As ono that stands upon a ^vl•oc'k, and feels, 
Before ho plunovs in tlio horrid deep, 
A mortal shudder, and with hiintness reels, 
80 I ahove that city on the steep 
Stood dreadin*;', as though deatli were in the swee]) 
Of the gi'eat human billows there that rolled 
With roar of action, and with surge and leap 
Forever dashed upon a strand of gold : 
But so I stood not long; — despau' had made me bold. 



V. 



I pressed on, and was quickly swallowed in 
By that life-Maelstrom, and my selfhood drowned 
In its abysmalness. The pomp, the din 
Whirled me in wilderment, and struck me stound : 
I wanderal through the streets, and gay.ed tu'ound 
Upon the spectacle so strange to mo — • 
The wonders of the new world I had found — 
The stormy motions of a living sea. 
Where virtue's ripples low antl sin's high surges be. 



KEEUKA. Qi 



VI. 



My spent soul swum ; the whirlpool narrowing round uie, 
Sucked to the center in n swotm iit hist, 
Wherein I Biink, imd deep ul)livion (h'owned me. 
When the iniinity of thiit swoon passed, 
1 seemed as from a booming ocean cast 
U[)on a silent shore: I lay alone, 
Till soon an old man's foivlicad, grandly vast. 
Hung o'er me like a moon ; — 'that old man's tone 
Was thunder sot to tunc and nmllled to a moan. 



VII. 

In accents that were I'ull of soothing pleasance — 
Tliough every word was [)ondcrous with thought 
And with the weight of his majestic presence — 
lie said that Heaven had one blessing brought 
To recompense a life with sorrows fraught. 
In giving me to^him ; that I should stay 
In his home thenceforth always, and that naught 
Should sever us till Death his sytho should sway. 
And mow the mortal bonds of sympathy away. 



Q2 KEEUKA 



VIII. 

With words, and kindnesses that have no words, 
That old man cheered and cherished me, his son 
By heart's adoption : solace such as girds 
Wo's zenith with a blue horizon, mn 
Through all his act, and on my spirit won 
As clear sky wins upon a passing storm. 
The passion chaos of my life was done, 
The vague infinitudes began to swarm 
Concrete, and orbs of thought to gather into form. 



IX 



My fosterfather was a great savan, 
Vei-sed in the sciences of ancient years, 
And in the histories of ancient man ; 
His large mind shepherded the flocking spheres 
Upon the plains of heaven ; rapt to tears. 
He drank thought's written immortalities 
From rare old words that have not charmed the eai-s 
Of men for decades of long centuries : 
And me he pointed where the truth of greatness is. 



KEEUKA. 03 



I followed earnestly ; for thus I hoped 
To distance memory and fly regret : 
Mine eyes the stariy eyes of night outcoped 
In steadiness of vigilance, and met 
The gaze of Lucifer at morn, to get 
The pearls of knowledge from the depths of toil. 
And in my crown of life then- beauty set ; 
Nor weariness could aught my ardor foil, 
As toward the Central Soul I circled, coil by coil. 



XI. 

The languages in which old glory lives ; 
The once-dim truths that genius has brought nigh. 
As telescope the stars ; the power that gives 
To lettered speech such forms as never die ; 
I studied these, and studied too the why 
Of man's existence, and nigh crazed my brain 
With God's great mysteries, as toward the sky 
My soul leaped up like wild beast in the chain, 
And tore itself and raved in ignorance's pain. 



64 



KEEUKA. 



XII 



Yeai-s passed like dreams — for we were not a part 
Of the world's wakeful stir — divines t dreams, 
Of poetry, philosophy, and art. 
And liberty, and glory, and aU themes 
Of thought ; the stars, those everlasting gleams 
Of God in heaven ; life, this endless chase 
Of childhood after rainbows ; death, which seems 
The lifting of the vail from Mystery's face ; 
And immortality in some more happy place. 



XIII. 

So passed the years ; and I, now grown a man, 
Grew Ml of manhood's righteous hate of wrong. 
I saw my country's freedom under ban ; 
I saw the weak down trodden by the strong ; 
I saw Toil's slavery, which had so long 
Been sanctioned by the horror of starvation ; 
And from my fiery heart I hurled a song 
That stmck against the great heart of the nation. 
And won the people's praise, the rulers' execration. 



KEEUKA. 66 



xiy 



The trained hounds of the law were let the sUp, 
And put on track. One morning, as I woke, 
The old man, with his finger on his lip, 
Stole to me in my closet ; ere he spoke, 
A saber felled him with a mortal stroke 
Dealt from behind, and over me outpoured 
His warm blood — Christ ! how then my fury broke 
From reason's leash ! I snatched the smoking sword, 
And with one horrid plunge the murderer's bosom gored. 



xy. 

God! 'twas the spoiler of my boyhood's love! 
The spouse of Jessie ! slayer of my sire ! 
He had twice murdered me ! — I stood above 
His body, and, with thews like steely wire. 
Brandished the bloody blade, and dared the ire 
Of twenty soldiers that had followed there. 
They pressed upon me, and their curses dire 
And clang of metal made the people ware ; 
Who then came bursting in, with eyes of desperate glare. 



^^ K E E U E A 



XVI 



Th(7 saw the old man they had lovod so long, 
Prostrate., his gi-ay hair mopping in his goro ; 
They saw me wlio had dared to sing the song 
Of liberty, encompassed by a score 
Of swordmen; and they i)aused to sec no more, 
But rushed right on. Oh! then thick horrors rose 
And scuffled there with bloody death I — the roar, 
Tlie shock, the clash, the stab, the deadly close, 
AU sounds, all sights that light's infernal fury knows! 



XYII. 

I did my part for freedom in that fray ; 
I fought for life as nuxnliood prompted me — 
Nay, fought for what the brave throw life away, 
The right to speak, to think, to act, to be — 
To bo ! for what is being, if not frt)^ ? 
The frightful stnigglo thickened, and the ring 
Of combat narrowed round, till in that sea 
Of bloodshed, underneath the two-hand swing 
( )f some huge weapon 1 went down, a senseless thing. 



KEEUKA. . (J7 



XVIII. 



How long I lay, I know not ; when I woke, 
A Bcabrcczc, blal)bing of the biJlows, swayed 
My hair back like a fond hand's gentle stroke. 
And, smacking kisses on my temples, played 
Tlie dallying lover. Then a simple maid 
With smooth brown hair and bashful hazel eyes. 
Stooped o'er my bed, and on my forehead laid 
Her soft hand. How her sympathizing sighs 
Changed as she looked upon me — changed to joyful cries 



XIX. 

My reason had returned ! There crowded round, 
With gratulation, men to tears elated, 
Men on whose fronts King Toil had full embrowned 
Tlie stamp of true nobility, narrated 
^ever in lieraldry, ])ut elcivated 
Above the majc^sties of all the earth : 
ITie Labor Lords, the rank by (xod created! 
The Labor Lords, emblazoned by their worth ! 
L pride me that from this old line I took my l>irth. 



03 EEEUEA. 



XX 



1 should have thought that I had been in slumber, 
And di-camed those horrors, but my arm I raised, 
And found it shrunk with days of wcaiy number, 
Spent in such fever as had racked and crazed. 
But health came slowly back, and glad eyes gazed 
Solicitous, as tliough a noise or motion 
Imperiled me ; and low, vague hints were plirasod 
Of danger of the law, of stern devotion 
To me to th' death, and of a flight beyond the ocean. 



XXI. 

I knew the state sought mo as miu-deror ; 
And so, before its vengeance tracked me there. 
And with me them involved, who would incm* 
Tlie risk of blood in my defense, and share 
The gibbet with me, I resolved to dare 
The world alone. One morning at the light, 
Ere my preservers were awake or ware, 
I stole from them, and where the sea's wings wliito 
Flockal the near hai'bor, thitherward I took my llight 



KEEUKA. 69 



XXII 



Down in the fog, bcsido the gloomy river, 
Tliroe men stood round a corpse — some mortal who 
Had spurned the gii't of life back to the Giver- 
Had rent the vail between the worlds in two, 
And with bold sacrilege burst madly through. 
It was a woman's Ibrm, a lovely bust 
And round limbs that the wet robe Boomed to woo 
Embracingly, as conscious of the trust 
Of loveliness it folded I— Oh ! was Heaven just I 



XXIII. 

Was there a God that ruled the right and wrong! 
Tliat Hiiiclde was JesHie! How my soul 
Staggered with agony! There was the strong, 
Tlie wild despair of love, as on a scroll. 
Writ on her foreliead ; years and years of dole 
That has no word, showed in her thin, palo chock ;- 
We raised her, and from nc^xt her heart out stolo 
His likeness, who had (jnished that heart so meek: 
IIow eloquent of woman's fondness did it speak! 



70 



KEKUKA 



XXIV 



And Warn) wero lottora in Iut boHoni hid, 
DcatliwiiminlK in hin writing I I wuh glud 
Tliul, luy (luick vongoanco stabbod liini m it did. 
I put poor ,]vmiv. In tho gravo, aud had 
Uiiv nunio in marblo and a willow Had 
l*lac(.)d over Ikt, and lol't her to her rest. 
With civilization now my brain waw mad; 
Witli thin hint luuror, hell burned in my broaBt: 
I bleHHi'd tile prow that pointed toward the bavago west. 



XXV. 

I took the deck, and an tiie ruHhing keel 
Kiirrowed the iield of waters, and tho sail 
Strained bellying toward America, my zoal 
Kor Ireedom greatened with the westward galo. 
So shall it be in tinu^ hence, when the stale 
And doted polities of olden time 
Shall obsoloBco in man's Regard, and fail 
Of his devotion: liberty sublime 
"^indl strengthen with the wind wliich wafts it to this clime. 



K E E U K A . 71 



XXVI. 



O Liberty ! thy flymbol is tho sea , 
Tho great hcji in thy rtyiiibol, jukI tlie wavcH 
Which roll belbro tlio oast wind, emblem tiiee; 
Tliou hunt a motion like them: westward raveB 
Tlie wild Htorrn of oppreHsioii, till the caveH 
01" awful trutli be stirred ; and grandly then 
Thou hIijiH rJHC! u[>, and heave tliem to thoii" graves, 
Who brave thy tempest — tyrants over men, 
Ingulfed in Kevolution, ne'er to rise again 1 



XXVII. 

But what thoughts tho sublimity of ocean 
Stirrcid in mo, I have told thee long ago. 
Or tried to tell thee — for there is emotion 
lIl)on the wide sea, that no words can show 
The shadow of; — and told thee what a glow 
I felt to make this Ihx; land ; and luifore. 
Thou knowst that I had told tliee of iny slow 
Long wanderings till I reached Kc^euka's shore, 
And how at hist I ibund thee, darling evermore!" 



CANTO V. 
I. 

Still sat she in the trance of listening, 
And he stooped o'er to kiss her from her dream. 
The sun aslope had now begun to fling 
The trees' cool shadows on the lake, and stream 
Down through the leaves in many a wavering gleam 
Upon the water, as in sweet embrace, 
And the low speech of passion that did beam 
So holily upon each earnest face, 
They glode on toward love's home — life's heavenliest place I 



KEEUKA. 73 



II. 



Then through the long, dark archway wafted they, 
Till far within, a golden stream of light, 
Which down through cleft of granite flowed from day, 
Showed them their grottoed home : of lofty hight 
The spacious chamber, and the walls bedight 
With graceful tapestry of painted pelt ; 
And there were seat;8, and couch, and books in sight — 
Dear books, wherein Lelu had often spelt 
Her way to glorious thoughts . How happy here they dwelt I 



III. 

Here wellnigh three years had they passed the days- 
Here and along the lake's most hidden nooks — 
Learning each other's language, how to phrase 
In fittest words love's eloquence of looks ; 
And she had got the magic of his books 
Shut in her soul, and he of her sweet lips 
The music, sweeter than the flow of brooks : 
So passed the days in fond companionships. 
But parted always at the gloamin's first eclipse. 



74 K E E U K A 



IV 



So passed the days of love's eternity ; 
So ebbed and flowed beneath the passion-moon ; 
So went, and left themselves a memor}' 
Like gratitude for some most precious boon : 
The di'eamful night, glad morn, delightsome noon. 
Chased in swift circle, staggering with bliss — 
Blest circle, save that night came round too soon, 
And brought the sweet pain of the parting kiss, 
And morn, that brought the kiss of greeting, too remiss. 



They parted now, to meet again at morn ; 
One long kiss, and her bark went darting out 
Into the lake, and he again was lorn. 
His supper finished of the golden trout. 
He hears the echoes of the well-known shout 
That welcomes home Lelu's boat every eve. 
He sleeps ; he wakes ; red dawn begins to flout 
The stars ; the quick sti-okes of her paddle cleave 
The water: once more tears and smiles love's rainbow weave. 



KEEUKA. 75 



VI 



Thus early to the grot had come Lelu, 
With terror in her voice and in her eye, 
Relating that the Mohawks were in view 
Upon the mountain, and their battlecry 
Was, Death to the Keeukas ! they must die ! 
For they are traitors to the Mingo name ! 
"To boat ! to boat ! Okkee, and let us fly 
To council, and enkindle valor's flame 
In hearts whose blood today must wash away this shame!" 



YII. 

He seized his gun, and charged it with the death — 
A long, white mantle on liis shoulder flung. 
And took the boat ; the passing of a breath. 
And out upon the lake the vessel swung ; 
Then, every nerve with strong exertion strung, 
To the other shore it flew like frightened bird : 
A moment more, and stood Okkee among 
The throng of braves, and gave his hot thought word, 
Which lit their souls like flame by breath of fierce wind stirred. 



76 KEEUKA 



VIII 



"Who fights for his dear home and for his life, 
Him the Great Spirit's truth shall justify ; 
Who falls defending from vile wrong his wife 
And children, shall be blest in yonder sky. 
Keeukas ! your sworn deadly foes are nigh ; 
They come down like the thunder-tempest sweep : 
It is your duty, meet them though ye die 
At the first onslaught ! let your keen points leap 
Eight to the death ! The brave sink not alone to sleep." 



IX. 



No plaudit foUowed ; desperation's hush 
Held back their breath ; but as a thundercloud 
Takes shifting shapes of horror ere the rush 
And roar of rain, so shaped that little crowd 
Its phalanx for the storm of battle loud. 
Moneeka stood the center of the van, 
And on his forehead sat death glory-browed : 
His eye along his banded warriors ran ; 
The thriU of that stern glance went through them, man by man. 



KEEUKA. 77 



X 



Down swept the fierce Five Nations like a torrent, 
Firm stood the clan Keeuka like a rock — 
Down swept with bows and flinted arrows horrent, 
Firm stood with warknives, stirless as a stock, 
Stirless as death, yet ready for the shock. 
The hurricane of arrows strikes them ; still, 
Stirless as death, they wait to interlock 
The grapple of the fight that is to kill : 
Each hot heart there had froze to that one icy will. 



XI 



The mad assailants thrust aback their bows, 
And with a yell that stunned the echoes dead, 
And with raised tomahawks, rushed to the close : 
A quick, sharp roar burst forth unwont and dread- 
The Mohawk chieftain bit the dust and bled ! 
Out strode Okkee, clad in his cloak of white. 
And the Five I^ations cast their arms and fled 
In disarrayed and wild disordered flight ; 
While the Keeukas gazed in superstitious fright. 



78 KEEUKA. 

XII, 

Out from their covert flocked the women glad. 
But glad not long; Moneeka fainting fell: 
Two arrowheads sunk in his vitals, had, 
From the first onset, drained his lifeblood well. 
All press around him — ^bear him to the dell 
Where wells a cool spring ; there to his last sleep 
Lelu's love rocks him on the sobbing swell 
Of her soft bosom, while with anguish deep — 
Okkee his forehead bathing — ^loud his people weep. 



XIII. 

"Okkee ! I feel thy hand like flesh and blood! 
Thou art not spirit ! Thou wilt be my son ! 
The spouse of my Lelu ! Ere next spring bud 
Upon my grave, let wedlock make ye one ! — 
My people, lo, your sachem ! — I have ran 
My race — and I — would — rest now" — Sunk his head. 
And gasped his breath : Moneeka's life was done. — 
Him and the Mohawk laid they in one bed, 
While hot tears over them sincerest sorrow shed. 



KEEUKA. 79 



XIV 



*'The champion of the right, and of the wrong — 
The hero of revenge, and of defense — 
Lie side by side here in the slumber long, 
Till the Great Spirit's voice shall call them hence, 
And all their truth and error recompense : 
So death has bid then* causeless quarrel cease, 
And brought them friends before Omnipotence. 
What prompture this to living love's increase ! 
Why should life be a war, since death is such a peace 1 



XY. 

Keeukas ! if I be your chosen chief. 
Revenge must all be buried in this grave ; 
Let peace put forth to blossom, and in leaf 
Let love's flush beauty o'er ye always wave ! 
Live here, and till the soil yom* fathers gave ! 
Cling to your homes here in the gloom of green ! 
Lelu and I dwell still in Spirit Cave, 
And meet to mingle with ye morn and e'en — 
They in the home of souls less blest than we, I ween !" 



80 KEEUKA. 

XVI. 

Okkee had said ; and all in circle ringing, 
Round him they danced, round him and his Lelu, 
Round them they danced, in chorus gladly singing ; 
Till toward his bloody doom the spent sun drew. 
And lengthening on the lake the shadows grew. — 
She half with love and half with sorrow sighed. 
As round her zone his arm he gently threw, 
And lifting her to boat, the paddle plied — 
And o'er Keeuka glode the Chieftain and his Bride. 



NOTES TO KEEUKA 



CANTO I. 



Enough, that truer Mingoes never drew 
An arrow to the head, or twanged a bow. 

Stanza XI, Line 6. 

The Five Nations consisted originally, or when first known to Europeans, 
of the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Cayugas, the Onondagas, and the Sen- 
ecas. Among the French they had the appellation of Iroquois ; among the 
Dutch, that of Maquas ; but by the Indians of Virginia they were gener- 
ally called Massawomekes ; and by themselves, Mingoes. MoIntosh. 

2. 

And from the mighty Mohawk sagamore. 

Stanza XII, Line 1. 

The Mohawks were the head of the Five Jfations ; and the whole con- 
federacy was frequently known by that name. The grand sachem, or saga- 
more, belonged to the ancient and original stock, from which the rest were 
said to be descended. To him all the inferior chiefs of the subordinate 
tribes were subject. MoIntosh. 



82 NOTES TO KEEUKA. 

3. 

Rise! Mingoes, rise I your Agresquee invoke. 

Stanza. Xri, Line 6. 

II parait que dans ces cliansons (de guerre) on iuvoquc le Dieu de la 
Guerre, que les Hurons appellojit Areskoui, et les Iroquois, Agreskoui. 

CUARLBVODC. 



The Mohawk leads the Nations Triplc-Clanned. 

Stanza. XVI, Line 5. 

Each of these Nations is divided into throe tribes, or families, who dis- 
tinguish tliemselves by three different names, or ensigns — the Tortoise, the 
r, and the Wolf. Lord Cadwallader Golden. 



nim hoarsely grunted guttural applause. 

Stanza XVIII, Link 2. 

Inst^^ad of acclamation, the Indians manifest their approbation by a 
hoarse, guttural grunt. 

6. 

uttered a low, wild chant, unstopped by lip. 

Stanza XX, Link 8. 

The Mohawk language, which is the language of the Five Nations, is 
wholly destitute of labials, or lias no words which require the lips to be 
closed in pronouncing them. MoIntosh. 



CANTO n. 
1. 

Should leave their bodies cold and breathless things 

In far lands, clawed by wolves, and flapped by ravens' wings ! 

Stanza V, Lines 8, 9. 

What shall he be ere night ? Perchance a thing 
O'er which the raven flaps her funeral wing. 

Bybon's Corsair. 



NOTES TO KEEUKA. 83 



Sire, the Great Spirit my Okkee hath sent. 

Stanza X, Line 8. 

The religion of the Indijins is erniiveutly polytheistic, recognizing one 
supreme god, whom they call the Great Spirit, one next inferior deity, who 
is accounted evil, and an infinite number of lower divinities, who, they 
suppose, pervade and animate all nature. These latter they distribute into 
two classes ; the good and the evil. The good are guardian spirits ; and 
by one of them every individual, from birtli to death, is believed to be con- 
stantly attended. Of these tutelar deities each has a peculiar form: 
som(jtiiues it is that of a bird ; sometimes of a fish ; a beast of prey ; a 
human being. According to Charlevoix, the Algonquins style these spirits 
ManitouH ; the Hurons, Okkis, or, in English orthography, Okkees. 



POEMS 



RAIN ON THE EOOF 

When tlio humid shadows hover 

Over all the starry spheres, 
And the melancholy darkness 

Gently weeps in rainy tears, 
'Tis a joy to press the pillow 

Of a cottage-chamber bed. 
And to listen to the patter 

Of the soft rain overhead. 



Every tinkle on the shingles 
Has an echo in the heart ; 

And a thousand dreamy fancies 
Into busy being start, 



88 RAIN ON THE ROOF. 

And a thousand recollections 
Weave their bright hues into woof, 

As 1 listen to the patter 
Of the rain upon the roof. 



Now in fancy comes my mother, 

As she used to, years agone, 
To survey her darling dreamers, 

Ere she left them till the dawn ; 
O ! I see her bending o'er me. 

As I list to this refrain 
Which is played upon the shingles 

By the patter of the rain. 



Then my little seraph sister. 

With her wings and waving hair. 
And her bright-eyed cherub brother — 

A serene, angelic pair ! — 
Glide around my wakeful pillow. 

With their praise or mild reproof. 
As I listen to the murmur 

Of the soft rain on the roof. 



RAIX ON THE ROOF. 

And an other comes to thrill me 

With her eye's delicious blue ; 
And forget I, gazrag on her, 

That her heart was all untrue : 
I remember but to love her 

With a rapture kin to pain, 
And my heart's quick pulses vibrate 

To the patter of the rain. 



There is naught in Art's bravuras, 
That can work with such a spell 

In the spirit's pure, deep fountains. 
Whence the holy passions well, 

As that melody of Nature, 
That subdued, subduing strain 

Which is played upon the shingles 

By the patter of the rain. 
8 



THE HEROES OF THE PEN. 

Sine caede, sine sanguine .... viciatis. — Ciobro. 

In the old tiuie gone, ere came the Dawn 

To the ages dark and dim, 
Who wielded the sword with mightiest brawn, 

Tlie world bowed down to him : 
The hand most red with the slaughtered dead, 

Most potent waved command, 
And Mars from the sky of glory shed 

His light like a blazing brand. 
But fiery Mars among the stars 

Grew pale and paler when, 
At the Morn, came Venus ushering in 

The Heroes of the Pen. 



rilK HEROES OF THE I'EN. \)[ 

Not witli Hword and llamo thoso IIorooB came 

'[\) r<i\iu^c Jiiul to sltiy, 
But tlio riiiva;^i! Houl with thought to taiiui, 

Aud with iovo and reason Bway ; 
Nor good steel wrought that battles Ibuglit 

ill tlie centuries ot* yore, 
Was over so bright as thoy bumisiiod thouglit, 

To cut into error's core ; 
And in tlie light for truth and right, 

Not a hundred thousand men 
Of the heroes old were matcii for one 

Of the Horocs of tho rcn. 



For tho weapon thoy wield, nor armor nor shield 

Endures for a single dint, 
Nor glave withstands, nor bayonet steeled, 

Nor powder, and ball, and flint : 
It touchea the thing called Shive or King, 

And the Man doth reappear. 
As did from the toad tho Seraph spring 

At the touch of Ithuriel's spear; 



92 THE HEROES OF THE PEN. 

And wherever down it strikes a crown, 
Says sovereign to serf, Amen ! 

Amen! and hurra, the people cry, 
For the Heroes of the Pen I 



Upon old tomes, those catacombs 

Of the dead and buried time. 
They lay the base of glory's domes, 

And build with truth sublime ; 
And from their hight directing the fight 

Of the right against the wrong, 
They fill the world with the lettered might 

Of eloquence and song. 
Nor buried they lie with those who die 

At threescore years and ten. 
But atop the piles they have builded, sleep 

The Heroes of the Pen. 



Hurra for the true ! of old or new, 
"Who heroes lived or feU — 



THE HEROES OF THE PEJS^. 93 

Thermopylae's immortal few ! 

Hun-a for the Switzer Tell ! 
Upvoioe to sky the brave Gracchi ! 

Hurra for the Pole and the Hun ! 
For the men who made the Great July I 

Hurra for WAsmNGxoN ! 
Yet old Time Past would triumph at last — 

But hurra, and hmTa again, 
For the Heroes who triumph over Time ! 

The Heroes of the Pen. 



THKENODY FOE FLORA 

WRITTEN FOR HER PARENTS. 

Out of the cluster of our love, 
A star has vanished up the sky ; 

Out of our nest, a spirit dove 
Has flown angelically high. 



A gap is in our fireside ring 
The wideness of a little tomb ; 

A prattle such as robins sing. 
Has faded out of every room. 



THRENODY FOR FLORA. 95 

Our hearts long for her pretty charms 

Of babish questions manifold, 
And for the little hugging arms 

Now locked across her bosom cold. 



Her bright hair, and her eyes that beamed 
So bonnily, oh, how we miss ! 

And, oh, her loving lips ! that seemed 
Fashioned so purposely to kiss. 



As fond hearts that in exile be. 
Grow homesick for the ones they love, 

So we grow heavensick to see 
Our pet seraphical above. 



Pet of the angels ! in that home. 
Faith sees her face serenely fair : 

For, as she entered heaven's dome, 
She left a window open there. 



ON! EIGHT ONI 

On I right on I Art thou immortal, 
Born to act, and deeds to do. 

And yet sittest in the portal 
Of thy destiny? Pass through! 

On I right on ! strike — stave to slivers 
EiTor- s gates that bat' thy way ; 

Enter, and live with the livers ! 
Live and act, while yet 'tis day. 

On I right on ! for night is coming — • 
Night of life, which comes to all — • 

When Death's fingers, chill and numbin< 
Seal the lids and spread the pall. 



ONI RIGHT ONt 97 

On ! right on ! Life is a battle, 

Wliere who wins must be a brave ; 
For erelong the clods shall rattle 

On the coffin in the grave. 



On ! right on ! His name is Legion, 
That has resolution's arm ; 

Victor he o'er many a region 
Ere dull plodders take alarm. 



On ! right on ! with high ambition. 
Make that viper, Slander, feel 

Writliiugs of submiss contrition, 
With his head beneath thy heel. 



On ! right on ! Think not life ending 
When thou licst down to die : 

On ! right on ! brave soul, ascending. 
Soar forever in the skv ! 



THE EDEN OF WISHES. 

It is at the foot of a mountain 

Whose high brow is bared before God, 
There gushes a crystalline fountain, 

And makes a bright brook in the sod. 



And the sod spreads away o'er a vaUey 
That opens where blue waters be ; 

And the brook with meandering daUy 
Goes babbling along to the sea. 

There snowy sails pass, like the lazy 
White clouds of a summery sky — 

Appear and evanish where hazy 
Infinity fences the eye. 



THE EDEN OF WISHES. 99 

Here falls over Pan's mossy pillows 

The green gloom of tropical groves, 
And Poesy hears the low billows 

In airs that come up from the coves. 

And here, while the sands of light sunny 
Sift down through the leaves from above, 

The wild bee gads hunting for honey, 
With wings wove of whispers of love. 



Here the ripples make music more mellow. 
More sweet than the stops of a flute ; 

Here the dark sky of leaves is starred yellow 
With thick constellations of fruit. 



This valley so pleasantly lonely, 

Wherethrough doth the waterbrook run, 

Holds one little cottage, one only, 
And one little maid, only one. 



rier blue eyes are clear pools of passion, 
Her lips have the tremor of leaves, 



XOO THE EDEX OF WISHES. 

And the speech that her lovely thoughts fashion, 
Is sweeter than poetiy weaves. 

Flirtation, gross, flippant, and cruel, 
Ne'er handled the hues on the wings 

Of her love ; in her heart is a jewel 
No cunning of flattery strings. 

For dwells all alone here the maiden, 
And waits for a true lover's kiss : 

Who would sigh for angelical Aiden, 
With her in an Eden like this ? 

'Tis the Eden of Wishes, unreal, 
This valley by sea bordered blue, 

And the maiden is all an ideal — 
I was but romancing to you. 



CAKOLINE. 

Her eyes were blue and softly bright, 
As morningglories wet with dew ; 

Her hair was like a cloud of night, 
That streams of moonlight struggle through. 

Her cheeks were of the hue of shells 
That ope their bosoms in the sea ; 

Her voice, the chime of silver bells, 
Forever ringing out a glee. 



Her mien was modest as the droop 
Of meadow lilies o'er a stream: 

Her light step, graceful as their stoop 

When soft winds wake them from a dream. 



102 CAROLINE. 

A truth was in her earnest glance, 
On which the heart would aye rely , 

Her every sigh inspired a trance, 
As 'twere a whisper from the sky. 



She was the dove of spirit birds — 
Tlic queen that wore the coronet 

Of young love's reign — in sober words. 
She was a beautiful coquette. 



MABELLE. 

Wio wiilkcil where the i^rass wiis checkered 
Willi the lij^dit throuii;h the leaves of May, 

While the night, in her white shroud of moonshine, 
Seemed the beautiful ghost of day. 

The presence that made it a rapture 

To walli in that bowery shade, 
Was a fond being, meek in her beauty, 

Half seraph and half loving maid. 

Her voice had the sorrowful cadence 

Of winds in a thicket of pine, 
While her eyes, like the leaf-liltered moonlight. 

Streamed through their long lashes to mine. 



104 MABELLE. 

Wo had como to the end of the rainbow, 

That had ever eluded till then, 
And our hearts, which had always prayed double, 

Now were beating the blessed amen. 

Laved our souls in love's river Lethean 
Till the moon in the west grew white, 

And along the dim shore of morning 
Broke the first purple billows of light. 

When that red sea of dawn had swoln over 

The beaconing morning star, 
Of our vessels of life one was shipwreck 

On the coast of God's heaven afar. 

The vail between her and the angels 
Was rent by our parting that dawn ; 

And returning some summer moons after. 
How I mourned for my beautiful gone I 

Oh ! the love that first rendeth the heartstrings, 

Is the love that continueth well ; 
And though I lived mortal through ages. 

All my life were a sigh for Mabelle. 



IMMOKTAL GLORY. 

How MANY of the bright names now that gleam 
In glory's heaven, skyed magnific spheres, 
Shall cast their brilliant shadows in the stream 
Of memory ten hundred thousand years ? 

Who knows but we are in the night, and yet 
There is a universal sun to rise, 
When all these twinkling stars of fame shall set. 
Or fade into the nothing of the skies? 

Manldnd may climb the pyramid of soul, 
Up by the stairfiight of the centuries. 
So high that he can hear the anthems roU 
Of seraphim, and see where heaven is. 



106 



IMMOKTAL GLORY 



And then the loud hiizziis of those low tinacs, 
That send up great names, may not strike their ears, 
Euraptured with the lugues of upper climes, 
And with the rolling music of the spheres. 

The highest peaks of glory now that rise 
May yet be whelmed rocks in that spirit sea 
On whose calm tide, uplloatiug toward the skies, 
The iu*k of raised humanity shall be. 

Hope not to live immortal in a sound 

That Admiration tongues and pens today : 

Ere roll the million future ages round. 

Where will the sound be? letters — where will they? 

Nay, sounds must die, and letters that enshrine 
Their corses, too, may utterly decay ; 
Kut thoughts, which are their quick ghosts, have divine 
Existence, and shall never pass away. 

No drop of thought once mingled with the sea 
Of so\d, shall perish, tliough it disappear: 
The viewless vapor it shall form, may be 
Ptu't of a rainbow in some distant year. 



IMMORTAL GLORY. 107 

Or, rising in its darkness, it may swell 
Some thundercloud of passion yet to loom ; 
For thought, of heaven born, or born of hell, 
Doubles itself for aye in gleam or gloom. 

Then, seek not glory ; it is utter naught — 
More unsubstantial than a fairy's kiss ; 
To be immortal, thou must think a thought ! 
Earth has no immortality but this. 



EMMA STUART. 

Oh 1 the voices of the crickets, 

Chirj^ing sad along the lea, 
Are the very tears of music 

Unto melancholy me ; 
And the katydids' responses 

Up among the locust leaves, 
Make my spuit very lonesome 

On these pensive autumn eves. 

For they mind me, Enmia Stuart, 

Of the bygone, blessed times. 
When our heartbeats paired together 

Like sweet syllables in rhymes ; 
Ere the fiiith of love was broken, 

And our locked hands fell apart. 
And the vanity of promise 

Left a void in either heart. 



EMMA STUART. 109 



Art thou happy, Emma Stuart? 

I again may happy be 
Nevermore : the autumn insects, 

In the grass, and on the tree, 
Crying as for vciy sorrow 

At the coming of the frost, 
Arc to me love's fallen angels, 

Wailing*- for their heaven lost. 



Often, often, Emma Stuart, 

On such solemn nights as this, 
Have we sat and mused together 

Of the perfectness of bliss — 
Of the hope that lit the darkness 

Of the future with its ray, 
Which was like a star in heaven, 

Beautiful, but far away I 



By the gateway, where the locust 
Of the moonlight made eclipse, 

And the river ripple sounded 
Like the murmur of sweet lips. 



1X0 EMMA KTUAUT. 

Tlioro a litilo nuiidcn wiiitod, 
Telling Jill the moinoiitB o'er — 

Emma Stuart ! P^mnia Stuart I 
Waits tho maiden there no more? 



No! ah, no I Along the pathway 

Grows the high, untrampled grass, 
Where the cricket stops to listen 

For thy wonted feet to pass ; 
But thy footBtcpR, Ennna Stuart, 

Press no more tho doorway stone, 
Trip no more along tho pathway — 

And the cricket sings alone. 



It is very mournful nnming. 

On such solemn nights as this, 
How evanislied all the promise 

Of the perfectncsB of bliss: 
Love's green grave between us, Emma, 

Keeps us parted aye and aye — 
Even not to know each other 

In the Love Ijand far awayl 



TO MY WIFE. 

Our lives wcro two dark cloiidfl of nif^ht, 
Tiiat shadowed liope's clear starti above, 

And fast were sinking out of sight; 

When, nuH'tiiig in the morning light, 
They mingled thvA\) in blushing love. 

Since thtin our life has hex^.n a day 

Of suiuiiK'r birds and Buirnncr blooms: 
Forenoon has wellnigh passed away, 
But love's bright sun has lost no ray, 
Undimmed by passion's thundering glooms. 



112 TO MY WIFE. 

Yet, bo it storm or be it Bhinc, 

Nor shine nor storm ourself can sever ; 

For I am resolutely thine, 

Thou art affectionately mine, 

And thou and I arc wc forever. C-?\£ . 



And when tlie Mystery is passed — 
llereat'ter linlced to Heretofore — 
I saved through thee, we one at last 
Sliall be one spirit in the vast 
Kinij^dom of Love forovermore. 



THE END OF THE llAINBOW. 

I WIS oi' a, region 

Whose heavenly scope 
Holds many a legion 

or angels of hope — 

At the end ot* the rainbow. 

Endure the dull present, 

Its toil, moil, and sorrow! 
We shall all find that pleasant 

Elysium tomorrow — 

At the end of the rainbow. 
iO 



114 r 1 1 K 10 N I) F T 1 1 K R A 1 N 15 W 

Tlioiv the sky never varies 
From glory to gloom ; 

Tlier'e infiiiite prairies 
Eternally bloom — 

At the end of the rainbow. 

I'lie bees liive no honey 
In tliat happy land ; 

For the days arc all sunny, 
The air always bland — 
At the end of the rainbow. 

There Love, by the mountains, 
Clhnbs into the sky. 

And Peace drinks at fountiiins 
That never go dry — 

At the end of tlie rainbow. 

There pleasure's enjoyment, 

In ardent career, 
Never ends in the cloyment 

That follows it here — 

At the end of the rainbow. 



TJiE END OF TIJE RAINBOW. jlo 

His bright pinion sunk 

At the goal of his mission, 
There Hope shimbors, drunk 

Witli the wine of fniition — 
At the end of tlie rainbow. 

No shadow Cimmerian 

Of ignorance tliere; 
But fountains I*ierian 

Jet into the air — 
At the end of the rainbow. 

There glitter the riclies 

That age never rusts ; 
Thcrc> glory's proud niches 

Are filled with our busts — . 
At the end of the rainbow. 

Endure the dull present, 

It& toil, moil, and sorrow! 
We shall all find the pleasant 

Elysium tomorrow — 

At the end of the rainbow. 



MISGIYIITG. 



Oh ! can it be that this is all of life, 
Betwixt a cradle and a coffin? Death! 
Canst thou put out this spark of God, the soul, 
Amid the humid ashes of the grave ? 
This marvelous existency! this dream, 
Bounded each side by night, is there no morn 
To be, that we may then remember it. 
And know it a reality? — ^The grave 
An I nothing ! Doubt, the horrid goblin, haunts 
The gloomy chambers of my brain, and wails : 

"The grave and nothing ! Love while yet the heart 
Throbs warm ; and when the eye whose thrilling glance 
Beams in among the shadows of thy spirit, 



MISGIVIN-G. 

Like sunshine in the forest, shall grow dull 

And vacant, and the lip's red bloom grow pale. 

Gaze then thy last, and kiss thy last ; for love 

Ends here forever ! Rainbows hope may arch 

In spans of beauty, that shall link thy years 

One to an other gloriously, and tint 

The clouds of sorrow ; yet the last bright arch 

Is broke by darkness ; ay, it can not span 

The gloomy valley of the shadow, death ! 

Take on the wings of thought, and soar away — 

Away most infinitely nothingward! — 

Away ! till Earth gleam smaller than the eye 

Of whom thou lovest — on ! away ! till thought 

Grow crazy with infinity, alone 

With the magnificent creation — on ! 

Where Fancy flaps her pennons full against 

The battlement of Paradise, and soul 

Deems to have traveled far enough to reach 

The home of God : and yet eternity 

Of matter, world, world, world, outstretches stiU 

Beyond. No spuit greets thee in thy course; 

Thou hearst no rustle of the wings of angels ; 

No whisper of intelligences here ; 

Naught here but matter, matter without end : 



1X8 MISGIVING. 

Thou art alone amid the silent wheels 
Of the interminable mechanism." 

Great God Almighty ! — for Thou abt ; else who 
Did frame this endless, awful universe ? — 
Shall man, who loves, and hopes, and thinks, and feels, 
And weeps, and shrieks for everlastingness. 
Shall he end utterly here in the grave? 
Hope no ! in God's large mercy, no ! While all 
Unconscious, careless things, incapable 
Of being nothing, must forever be. 
Shall mind, the only thing that knows to be. 
Be nothing? Seems not like a God, to cause 
It BO. We know not ; all is mystery : 
Life's awful problem — the solution, death I 



EYES. 

When from the night where no dreams are, 

Life's dawning rays begin, 
Then woman's eye, the raorning star, 

Is there to tremble in. 

The wings of Memory are set 

With eyes of every hue 
That eyes may be, from merry jet 

To melancholy blue. 

The first bright pair that clung my heart, 

As magnet clings the steel. 
Had eacli a flashing, wicked dart 

Their black could not conceal. 



120 EYP]S. 

The next, which hiy upon my sonl, 
Like moonlight gh^bes of dew, 

Death's iingel iill their heaven stole, 
To make the sky more blue. 

The next were luizel : they were lit 

At i)iission'8 hottest Ihime ; 
Whomever once their glory smit, 

Forgot his very name. 

The next wore like the griiy of sky, 
Ere breaks the beamy light ; 

The tlame of love, like dawn was nigh, 
Though bosomed out of sight. 

The next — song can not paint thoir hue; 

Their orbs, which toward me roll — 
Nor brown, nor gray, nor black, nor blue — 

Are of the luie of soul ! 

When into niglit wliore mysteries are. 
Life's lingering smibeams fade, 

Then woman's eye, the evening stai*, 
llhnnes the solemn shade. 



MlNNElLAirA. 

Ere the Muses transatlantic, 

Pale of lace, and 1)1 no of eye, 
Found the wilderness romantic 

'Neath the occidental sky, 
Think not then was here no worship 

Of the beautiful and grand ; 
Think not Nature had no wooers 

In the wild Hesperian land. 

Poesy, agrestic nuiiden, 

Wihl-eyed, black-haired, haunted here, 
Singing of the Indian Aiden, 

Southwest of this mortal sphere; 

Singing of the good Great Spirit, 

Who is in and over all ; 
11 



122 MINNEHAHA. 

Singing sweetly every river, 
Mountain, wood, and waterfall. 

And this dark Parnassian maiden. 

Sang sublimely war's wild art ; 
Sang of love and lips love-laden 

With the honey of the heart. 
But the warsong's frantic music, 

And the deathsong's roundelay, 
And the lovesong's rude cantata, 

Westward, westward die away. 

These will with the red tribes perish ; 
For their language leaves nor scroll 

Nor tradition writ, to cherish 
Such immortalness of soul. 

So, the names that they have given 
To the chai'ms of Nature here — 

Stream, cascade, lake, hill, and valley- 
Let us fervently revei'e. 

For, though civil life effaces 
All else they have gloried in, 

Yet this poetry of places 
Will remind us they have been : 



MINNEHAHA. 12^ 



Therefore, white man, pioneering 
Far and farther in the west. 

Let the Indian names be sacred, 
Tlioiif»;h thou ravao:e all the rest. 



Call not cataracted rapid 

That has leaped its way and riven, 
By his own name, curt and vapid. 

That some Saxon boor has given ! 
But let Nature keep her titles ! 

Let her name the quick cascade 
Minnehaha — Laughing Water — 

In the language she has made ! 

Minnehaha ! how it gushes 

Like a flow of laughter out ! 
Minnehaha ! how it rushes 

Downward with a gleeful shout ! 
Minnehaha ! to the echoes — 

Minnehaha ! back the same — 
Minnehaha! Minnehaha! 

Live forever that sweet name ! 



A SONG FOE THE CKATS. 

Theke is hope on the banks of the Danube, 

There is hope in the grand tintamar 
Of cannon, and music, and clangor, 

Where Sultan encounters with Czar ; 
There is hope where the sway of the Tartar 

Is swept down the bloody Hoang ; 
There is hope for the Isles of the Morning 

In Liberty's bugle twang : 
Down, down with the Autocrat ! 
Hurra for the Democrat ! 

Is Liberty's bugle twang. 



A SONG FOR THE ORATS. 125 

Tbe blood that has flowed from old heroes, 

And settled in Lord, Prince, or Don, 
Shall find the true level of manhood. 

As the current of Freedom rolls on ; 
For the world is aweary of nobles. 

Who groan when the people rejoice, 
Rejoice at the groans of the people, 

And shudder at Liberty's voice : 
Down, down with th' Aristocrat! 
Hurra for the Democrat ! 

Is Liberty's righteous voice. 



Yet it were but a change of oppressors, 

To fly from the Blood to the Burse — 
From th' Aristocrat's power of birthright. 

To the Aurocrat's power of purse ; 
But all, they must all be down stricken I 

The thunder is in the sky ; 
It waits but for Truth's invocation, 

It waits but for Liberty's cry: 
Down, down with the Aurocrat! 
Hurra for the Democrat ! 

And this shall be Liberty's cry. 



126 A SONG FOR THE CRATS, 



The Autocmt ruslics to rain, 

Til' Aristocrat waxes old ; 
And thought, in Democracy's balance, 

Shall weigh down the Aurocrat's gold. 
From the turmoil of thick revolutions, 

Mobocracy's cliaos of wrong, 
A fau' world of order is forming, 

Tliat shall unto Freedom belong: 
Down, down with the Mobocrat! 
llm-ra for the Democrat ! 



And the world shall to Freedom belong. 



May, 1852. 



LEGEND OF THE ALABAMA 

Let me tell thee, Love, a legend 
Of a stream whose waters roll 

Toward the Aiden of the Indian, 
Southwest Countiy of the Soul. 

It is said that in the language 
Which the Manitou loved best, 

Was the meaning of the sweet word 
Alabama, here we rest. 

Well, abng the Shenandoah, 

Where the ripples run like rhyme, 

Lived a tribe that spoke this language, 
In the dimly distant time. 



128 LEGEND OF THE ALABAMA. 

It was moons and moons unnumbered 
Ere the Spanish Christian men 

Had come sailing from the sun^-ise ; 
And Wahleeyah reigned here then. 

And Wahleeyah was a sachem 
With a forehead like the dawn ; 

Keen his dark eye as the eagle's, 
Yet as mild as of the fawn. 

He had never scalped a foeman, 
Never widowed loving squaw ; 

But his great soul was a glory, 
And his gentle word was law. 

He had talked with the Great Spirit, 
On the far blue hills above, 

Teaching thence his tribe, that better 
Than to slay, it is to love. 

So they smoked the sacred peacepipe, 
Smoked with all the tribes around : 

Long the tomahawk was buried. 
In their happy hunting-ground. 



LEGEND OF THE. ALABAMA. 129 

Peaceful lived they as the spirits 

Of the hunters in the sky ; 
Till one midnight, from the north land, 

Came a clan with hideous cry. 

Yells went up along the hillside, 

Yells went clamoring through the vale ; 

All the wilderness was horror 
With the wild whoop and the wail. 

Piling up between the fierce foe 

And his kindred, heaps of dead, 
Eeeked the right hand of Wahleeyah 

First that night with slaughter red. 

Brave he fought for love and freedom, 

Till, at rise of morning star. 
On the free hills were his loved ones, 

From their fathers' graves afar. 

Where the golden threads of sunlight 

Were inwoven through the leaves, 
Of the harvest hot of battle 

Lay the reaped, ungathered sheaves. 



130 LEGEND OF THE ALABAMA. 

But Wahleeyah, on that mornirig, 
With the rescued of his band, 

Sought the sweet Southwest, aspiring 
There to find the Spirit Land. 

For his soul was sick of bloodshed, 
And he hoped to find a rest 

From the warwhoop and the deathyell, 
In the green groves of the blest. 

Many a time they fixed their wigwams. 
Fondly deeming they had found 

That hoped happy land of spirits, 
The celestial hunting-ground. 

But some clan would come, and drive them 
From their pleasant place away ; 

When again they journeyed onward, 
Wellnigh weary of the day. 

When the last, consumptive blushes 
Glowed upon the summer's cheek, 

Came they where the grand magnolia 
Skyward reared its snowy poak. 



LEGEND OF THE ALABAMA. IQ± 

Spicy airs among the cypress 

Whispered soft, mysterious words, 
And as ghosts of earthly son'ows 

Seemed the beautiful, bright birds. 

All along the hazy valley 

Lay the formless sprite of dreams, 
And the golden ghost of sunlight 

Flashed upon the spirit streams. 

They had found it! they had found it! 

Found the Country of the Soul ! 
Eeached the river whose clear waters 

Through that forest heaven roll ! 

Rushed they to this limpid river, 

Fancied river of the blest, 
And the chieftain cried, in transport, 

Alabama ! — here we kest. 

So this nver, from the language 

Which the Manitou loved best. 
Took the name of Alabama — 

Alabama, here we rest. 



WKESTLING. 

In sooth, it is not worth to live, 
This petty i-ound of mine I 

My soul is frantically drunk > 
With strong Ambition's wine, 

Yet ever and forever sunk 
In Need's low, snaky twine. 



Anon it \^Tenches off the coils 

Witli a most maniac might, 
And leaps up toward the stars that sliine 

In life''s mysterious night — 
To fiill back in a tiglrtor twine, 

And in a fiercer fight I 



WRESTLING. 

Give way I give way ! I must go up 1 

'Tis death to linger hero I 
My straugliug spirit must have air! 

Air of an other sphere ! — 
Ah I Hope is dead, young Hope the fair, 

And I chained to her bier. 



I am as in a gloomy vale ; 

I see the summits dim 
Of Glory's mountains, like the dreams 

That Mab's fine fingers limn ; 
But I am islanded by streams 

Too cold and wide to swim! 



EEMINISCENCES. 

I FEEL the clear brook of boyhood 

Flow into my soul tonight, 
And Memory Hashes her pinions, 

Like a bird, in tlie waters bright. 

1 stand by the lake Keeuka, 

Where we ran from school to swim ;- 
Hah ! there is the blind old fisher ! 

Kight well I remember hun. 

All day, with his skifi" at anchor 
Far out on the limpid blue. 

He trolled for the beautiful salmon, 
Till he felt the tail of the dew. 



RP]MIN1SCENCES. 135 

Then the lake-blue eyes of Minnie 
Would watch till he rowed ashore: 

Oh ! the wonderful eyes of his Minnie 
The fisher might see no more. 

In the green witch-hazel bushes 

We lurked till the school let out, 
Then joined with the whooping children, 

And boldly ran home with a shout. 

How we pillaged the nest of the blackbird. 

Where the flaggy forest grew ! 
And pilfered the eggs of the robin. 

So round and so temptingly blue ! 

In the balmy eves of the summer. 
When the au* floated full of the moon, 

We played on the green of the common, 
Till the night rounded up to the noon. 

And nights when the white snow of winter 

Like a frozen moonlight lay, 
Down the slippery steep of the hillside 

We skimmed on the dizzy sleigh. 



186 REMINISCENCES. 

The brother who mated my spirit 
In the rush of its morning flow, 

Grew up with me into manhood — 
But now he lies under the snow ! 

Oh ! the winds of night are crying, 
Like women when they weep ! 

Let me fly away from my sorrow, 
And be a glad boy in my sleep I 



THE LAND KEDEEMED. 

Not always shall this sacred earth 

Be at the nabob's nod ; 
The land shall be redeemed at last, 

And rendered back to God : 
Then each shall of the acres hold 

Enough to make him free ; 

None shall usurp more than his need, 

And none shall landless be. 
12 



135 THE LAND REDEEMED. 

The system of old feudal wrong, 

That makes the people pay 
For room to live upon the earth, 

Fades even now away : 
Erelong the landlord shall become 

A laughter and a scoff, 
As swells the tide of human rights 

To sweep his landmarks off. 



For man perceives the truth at last — 

Long faded in the dim — 
That record, scroll, nor parchment writ 

Can take the earth from him ; 
That Nature makes a title deed 

To each one for his time 
In his own want, and who takes more. 

He perpetrates a crime. 



This simple truth shall turn the cheek 

Of pale Starvation red, 
As over old ancestral parks 

The pauper's sheaves are spread ; 



THE LAND REDEEMED. 139 

This truth shall put the gewgaws all 

Of kingcraft under ban, 
And man shall meet his fellow on 

The common platform, man. 



Then prince and peasant, side by side, 

Shall gladsome toilers be. 
And grades go down the flood of right. 

As dead wood to the sea ; 
For when each has his human right 

Of home upon the soil. 
All shall be Princes of the Soul, 

Ennobled by their toil. 



Philosophy shall then sublime 

Each heart to pure desire, 
Beginning with the little child 

Beside the winter fire ; 
Religion true shall hover round 

On starry summer eves. 
And Song transport the happy homes, 

Rural among the leaves. 



140 THE LAND REDEEMED. 

Glad time of eartli's beatitude! 

When none shall hoard or steal, 
But all mankind together work 

For universal weal — 
The warlike and the evil yield 

To peaceful and to good, 
And nations all take hold of hands 

In loving sisterhood. 



LITTLE FANNY. 

Of home's boyish blisses 
Heart-echoed for^ye, 

Were prattles and kisses 
That Death stole away. 

Oh ! Death has no pity I 
He took, while he smiled, 

Took Fanny, the pretty. 
The fond little child. 

From mother-love duty, 
From father-love pride, 

He lured the young beauty. 
To make her his bride. 



142 LITTLE FANNY 



Her hair was a cluster 
Of glooms and of gleams, 

And her eyes had the luster 
That stars have in dreams. 

The busiest rover 
That buzzes and sips, 

Never found honeyed clover 
Like Fanny's red lips. 

Her cheeks were ripe peaches, 
Her voice was a bird's. 

Making sweet little speeches 
Without any words. 

And she was love's very 

Ideal of love ; 
Not moody, not merry, 

But mild, like a dove. 

So near the sweet lisper 

To heaven did keep. 
That angels could whisper 

To her in her sleep. 



LITTLE FAKJS'Y. ^ 143 

Too near 1 for her smiling 

In dreams as she lay, 
Showed they were beguiling 

Her spirit away. 

And once, as the peaches 

Grew flush with the sun, 
The heavenward reaches 

Of her life were done. 

Above the stars' glister, 

Above the sky blue, 
With our little sister 

The death-angel flew. 

Oh ! then tears of sadness 

From fond ones were wrung ! 
O ! then songs of gladness 

By seraphs were sung! 

Oh ! then home was lonely ! 

For at the hearth, where 
She had chirruped, now only 

The cricket chirped there. 



144 littlp: fanny. 

All litb's othor blisses 
Caa novor repay 

Those prattles and kisses 
Which Death stole away. 



TO ELIZA LOGAN. 

Thou art the Vestal of the sacred fire 

Which, flaming on the altar of the soul, 

While truth and virtue live, shall ne'er expire; 

And ever in the sacerdotal stole 

Of awful purity, thou movest through 

The inner temple of emotions pure, 

And, like a Sibyl, so expressest true 

The spirit's mysteries, that we are sure 

Thou hast drank inspu-ation at the fount 

Castalian of the genius-Helicon. 

Nymph histrionic of Parnassus mount ! 

Apollo twined a wreath of thought upon 
13 



146 '^0 ELIZA loga:n\ 

Thy sad, imploring brow, and sent thee down 

To live his glory forth ; and, like a song 

Of love, sung with the gush of tears, to drown 

The soul in passion's sea, thy pathos strong 

Along the heartchords sweeps, and wakes a tone 

Whose echoes haunt us in the after days, 

Like memories of that love whose spell has thrown, 

In youth, around the life its mellow rays. 

Who sees, must love thee ; for thine earnest eyes 

Two gushing sighs expressed to vision, seem ; 

Thy brows, Aonian eagles in the skies ; — 

Bright Incarnation of our raptest dream 

Of Poesy and Passion ! all that hear 

Thy sweet-tongued inspiration — Sapphic tones 

Which voice the heartthrobs — give to thee the tear. 

As night gives dew when breeze-stirred blossom moans. 

Thou art a living poem, learned by heart 

For worth of sentiment and wealth of rhyme ; 

And — ^like it, though forgotten be its art — 

Thou hast swept chords to vibrate for all time. 



THE SPIKIT'S EESPONSE 

Beight Spirit supernal, 
Oh ! say, canst thou know, 

In thy home eternal,' 
The sad mortal's wo? 

Canst visit, fraternal, 
Thy brother below? 

Not a thought, not an emotion, 

Not a tear, and not a sigh 
Stirs the boundless sea of spirit, 

But it ripples to the sky ; 
And the gurgling of those ripples 

On the empyrean strand, 
Is a telephonic language. 

Which we angels understand. 



148 THE SPIRIT'S RESPONSE. 

Fleeter than the wings of fancy, 

Silent as the steps of night, 
We, the viewless souls of heaven, 

Fly the maze of planets bright ; 
Visit Earth and flashing Yenus, 

Visit Jupiter and Mars, 
Visit aU the grand creations. 

All the universe of stars. 



Most we visit mortal kindred — 

Those who think of us with death, 
With the flutter of the pulses, 

And the rattle of the breath — 
And impalpable to senses 

Of the dwellers on the spheres. 
With their souls we hold communion, 

Sitting by the fount of tears. 



In the rain of weeping sorrow 
We with mortals love to stay ; 

For we know that every teardrop 
Washes some dark sin away ; 



THE SPIRIT'S RESPONSE. 149 

And we know, too, that hope's rainbow 

Comes and sits upon the cloud, 
And that heaven looks the brighter 

After grief-storm wild and loud. 



Brother, never thou awakest 

From a dream of me to weep, 
Never, shutting eyelids tearful, 

Sinkest to a sighing sleep, 
But our little seraph sister. 

With her wings and waving hair, 
And her bright-eyed cherub brother, 

And myself, are with thee there. 



Thou art sadder, but art better. 

Since death parted thee and me ; 
For, in stead of two to watch thee, 

Now, my brother, thou hast three : 
Every thought of us, that raises 

In thy heart the tearful leaven, 
Charms a triad of blest angels — 

Thou art so much nearer heaven ! 



LOYE. 

Feom the cradled lull by the hearthstone, 
To the coffined lull in the clod, 

O ! is it for man to be happy 
Hither side of the City of God? 

Though gold has the glittering promise, 

And we seek it far and near. 
Not gold from the streets of Heaven 

Could pave a paradise here. 



LOVE. 151 

And fame, that to young ambition 

Has a voice of thundering roll, 
Sends a bolt with its flash of glory — 

Where it strikes, it blasts the soul. 

All the joys of this dark existence 

Keep fading, one by one, 
Before the approaching death-dawn, 

As the stars before the sun. 

O ! is there for man no pleasure 

That will bloom forever here. 
And, transplanted to Eden, flourish 

In that celestial sphere? 

Yes, love ! that gives to the spirit 

Wings fluttering to aspire ; 
Love, that makes our human heartstrings 

The chords of an angel's lyre. 

Yes, love ! that skies the summer bluer, 
And paints the leaves more green ; 

That knows what the wild bees whisper, 
And feels what the bird-songs mean. 



152 LOVE. 

Yes, love ! that weaves wings of the blossoms, 

To winnow the fragrant au* ; 
That wraps in a white-cloud mantle. 

And climbs the cerulean staii'. 

Love is always, always climbing ; 

It belongs in heaven above : 
O ! our souls are linked to the angels 

In every kiss of love! 



SCOTTISH SONG. 

TO TOM STANTOlf. 

Here's a han' wi' you, my crony; 

Here's a heart wi' you for aye ; 
O' guid friends the best of ony 

Hae ye been for mony a day. 

When misfortune's frost sae chilly 
Withered youthfu' hopes in bloom, 

Of a' men, ye was the billy 
Gied the luckless bardie room. 



154 SCOTTISH SONG. 

Ye it was that spak' me kindl}^, 
Ye that flung the han' to me, 

When the warl folk leered half blindly, 
Squinting wi' wealth's dazzled e'e. 

Mony a time syne then thegither 
Hae we spent in social glee, 

Till our hearts hae grown to ither, 
An' na moe can severed be. 

When the moon hae blinked at gloamin. 
An' the sheen stars glinted bright, 

Arm in arm linked, tentless roamin'. 
Oft in crack we've whiled the night. 

All along back memory's vista 

Through life's wilderness, the trees 

Stir their leaves an' blossoms, kist a' 
By thy friendship's genial breeze. 

Here's a han' wi' you, my crony, 
Here's a heart wi' you for aye ; 

O' guid friends the best of ony 
Hae ye been for mony a day. 



TO OTWAY CUKRY. 

Srrs in the dell the sad Muse sobbing — 
Fond sweetheart of those ardent days 

When thy young bosom thrilled athrobbing 
With her divinely whispered lays. 

Lovelorn she sits and brokenhearted ; 

For thou, who whileome wooed her, now 
Hast left her pining passion-thwarted 

Beneath the mournful willow bough. 

There hangs thy harp, whereon she gazes, 
As listening to thy luscious chimes : 

Its cunning chords the weird wind grazes, 
And faints away in rapturous rhymes. 



156 TO OTWAY CURRY. 

Yet these flow not with thy flush spirit — 
She dreams them thine, not long, not long 

The wind plays on — she does not hear it — 
Her heart aches for thy zeal of song. 

Her pining heart aches — ^false one ! ask her 
Forgiveness for that heart betrayed ; 

O ! be no more this moody masker 
Of soul amid life's cold parade. 

The Muse's heart aches for thy passion, 
The flame with which thy youth did woo ; 

Turn to the pensive Maid Parnassian, 
And love her as thou wont to do. 

Wed her, and sing us the spousals, 
Sing us the songs of thy soul ! 

Poesy's maudlin carousals 
Quell by thy sober control ! 

Once while the year is semental, 
Cuckoos come fluting their lay : 

Cuckoo of Song Occidental, 
Charm us even often as they ! 



ON AN INDIAN'S GKAVE. 

The sunset blushes of the Occident 

Glow faint and fainter, and as Twilight waves 
Her wizard wand athwart the firmament, 

The quick stars spring from their cerulean graves 

In pale shrouds, doubled in yon brook that laves, 
With prattling lapse, the foot of this old mound. 

Where sleeps perchance, a thousand Indian braves— 
Their monuments these ancient trees around. 
Whose leafy meshes sift the moonbeams on the ground. 



158 ON AN INDIAN'S GRAVE. 



This grave, from which the white man has exhumed 

Some bones of mortal buried long ago, 
Mayhap was scooped here ere had Science plumed 

His starry wings to pass old ocean's flow. 

But whose the skeleton, no one may know 
Again on earth ; for now remains there naught 

Of deed recorded or of name to show 
That such a one e'er in life's battle fought, 
Or groveled infamous, or deathless honors sought. 



Conjecture, threading through the darkling path 
Of dead years, may behold him walk the chief 

Of savage warriors, in his wild-eyed wrath 
Wielding the tomahawk with vengeance brief. 
Or eking out his tortured prisoner's grief. 

While round the death-fire dance his frenzied rout 
Of tattooed clansmen, shivering every leaf 

Of these old trees with their demoniac shout 

Of horrid glee to see the victim's life go out. 



ON AN INDIAN'S GRAVE. 159 



A hissing flame-tongue from the nether hell 
Is this revenge, which, licking up the tears 

Of pity at the fount from which they well, 

All love's flush from the spring of passion sears, 
And through the tender heartstrings shriveling veers 

The direst fury in the human breast. 

It flourishes through aU the savage years, 

Fatting on ignorance ; yet oft is dressed. 

Among the civilized, in Glory's martial vest. 



But Fancy Hmns him not in scenes alone 

Of barbarous vengeance ; — round the council fire 

The sagamores are gathered ; in the tone 
Which Nature's savage passions aye inspire, 
Stern, iron words he utters, which acquire 

Strange force of meaning from his gestures strong, 
As thunders from the leap of lightnings dire : 

Beneath yon tree, whence that cicada's song 

Comes hoarsely, haply he harangued the gloomy throng. 



160 ON AN INDIAN'S GRAVE. 



Strange are the changes, chieftain, (if such thou,) 

That time has wrought here since then ; strange the scene 
Would meet thy vision, were it quickened now : 

Where yonder cornfields wave their streamers green, 

Which rustle softly in the breath of e'en, 
Tall forest trees locked arms above thee ; where 

That closure limits, crooked as the mean 
System that made it, earth spread free as air. 
And thou and thy red hunters chased the wild deer there. 



Then, too, rude wigwams squatted here and there 
In leafy twilight, and the forest maid, 

Of black bewildering eye and streaming hair. 
Poured her wild lovesong in the viny shade, 
While at her feet the checkered moonshine played : 

Now yonder cluster thick the village homes 
Of men enlightened, and there in the glade 

Stand villas, whence the blue-eyed maiden comes. 

And with her pale-faced lover here at evening roams. 



ON AN INDIAN'S GRAV.E. U\l 



Like as the red cloud-glories of the dawn, 
That flaunt the orient before the sun, 

In his uprising are consumed and gone. 
So faded these wild races, one by one. 
In civilization's morn, till now are none 

Even to guard the graves left here ; the hand 
Of Christian white man ruthlessly has done 

Away their sacredness ; and now we stand. 

And muse of human bones uncovered in the sand. 



O what a wonder is this human life ! 

O what a wonder man ! He lives his time. 
His little hour, in passion's, glory's strife ; — 

The grave ingulfs him ; — from some other clime 

Bards come and spin the melancholy rhyme 
Over his noteless bones. Such is the lot, 

Alas ! of aU : however loud the chime 

Of funeral bells when we He down to rot. 

Our graves are leveled soon, and we on earth forgot. 
14 



